August 16, 2022 • 1 hour ago • 10 minutes read • 9 comments Jessica Beecham, center, has made a strong recovery after a rough winter and a stint in rehab. Debra Franke, left, and Victoria Ryan, were among the few people who made that recovery. (Photo Submitted)

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Jessica Beacham had been in London one day and already the city was killing her again.

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Her hands flew up in the air, then held her face, then she rubbed her hair so hard it looked like she was trying to erase her thoughts. Her feet bounced off the ground, pushing her against the wall, flipping her over and over. She sat up, tore off a strip of paper towels, laid down, spread out her sleeping bag, shuffled through her clothes. Workers at the Forest City Surplus store on Dundas Street gave her a quiet place to rest, water, comfort and called 911. But the police never came. Her assistants left. Two days later, Beacham’s body was found in the River Thames, near London’s Peace Garden, near York and Thames Street. Her death broke the veil of hope that covered the anger and frustration of frontline homelessness workers in London who had seen too many deaths.

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They formed #TheForgotten519 coalition, launched a hunger strike and sparked discussions with city hall and other organizations that led to new strategies and promises of more collaboration to help the most vulnerable homeless Londoners. Beacham’s story inspired. But her story is also a cautionary tale. It shows just how much work is and will be needed to help hundreds of other Londoners living on the streets, and how fragile anyone’s success can be. Ark Aid Street Mission at 696 Dundas Street in London. (Free Press File Photo) “Her death is nobody’s fault and everybody’s fault,” says Gen Simms, director of housing stability and case manager at Ark Aid Street Mission. “People don’t know the whole story.” It’s unlikely anyone ever will, but here’s what we do know: For years, Beacham lived on the streets of London, sometimes so raging and incoherent that she was banned from many shelters and services, and sometimes so loving and kind that she laughed into the hearts of frontline workers.

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“She fought a lot and it was hard to support her at times,” said Andrew Tucker, one of her partners. “But one thing that was very consistent about Jess was that she would help anyone in any way. He was a very generous man who remembered a lot of your life, a really genuine man.” Beacham managed to get through the winter of 2020/21, housed for a time in a trailer site specially created for people with complex mental illness, addictions and trauma. This type of shelter was not offered in the winter of 2021/22 and Beecham was left on the streets. “It went down quickly,” recalls communications worker Carrie Butt. “It’s like her brain doesn’t register that it’s cold outside. He would walk around outside without boots, without a coat. We always tried to give her lots of blankets and coats and boots. But he would always lose them.”

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Beacham’s feet and hands were blackened from frostbite and the skin began to peel off. Butt and her colleague Victoria Ryan took Beacham to the hand and upper limb clinic at St. Joseph’s Hospital on January 21, 2022. “I was absolutely devastated because her wounds were just horrendous,” Ryan recalled. Ryan says he begged the clinic doctor to refer Beacham to the hospital. Her doctor told her it wasn’t a medical issue, but a social one, and there was nothing more he could do, Ryan says. She should keep her feet up and away from the cold, the doctor advised. “There was no reasonable way to do that,” says Ryan. The hospital of St. Joseph cannot comment on a specific patient, the hospital said in a statement. “For all patients visiting St. Joseph’s for whom social determinants of health are a concern, staff and physicians will reach out to community partners as needed to support the individual,” the statement said.

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Four communications workers told the Free Press they tried on several occasions to get Beacham hospitalized for her legs and her growing mental illness and addiction, but that just led to a round of short stays and discharges down the road. A full-blown psychotic episode landed her in Victoria Hospital on January 25, where she was sedated and treated for a few weeks, but then released, they say. Victoria Hospital in London. It took Simms, with the help of some police officers, to get Beacham committed to a mental institution by court order. Service center workers in London have a mixed view of the London Police. Some officers have helped over the years, but many have not, they say. “If we called in an emergency and said it’s about a member of the community, the police would show up in 10 to 15 minutes,” Butt says. “If we told them we needed help with Jessica Beecham, they would show up six to seven hours later. She didn’t care at all. They just didn’t want to deal with her.”

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Once the partners got Beacham to the hospital, Simms says she then had to convince the hospital to keep Beacham long enough to get her a bed in a rehab center, and she had to convince the Ark Aid Mission’s board of directors to approve the $20,000 to pay for it. bed. At the rehab center, Ark Aid had to pay for Beacham’s Uber rides to the hospital for treatment for her frostbite and push back when the rehab center wanted to release her early, Simms says. There was nowhere for Beacham to go when she got out, so she moved into a small apartment in Woodstock with her father and stepmother. City Hall officials began working to get Beacham financial assistance in Woodstock so she could live in her own apartment there, Simms says. But many London organizations refused to offer help to Beacham in Woodstock, just as she had been banned in London, Simms says.

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“There was always a reason. It killed me to get the same response from the same community members.” In Woodstock, Beacham took care of herself and began to rebuild relationships with family. “It was really incredible to see the change,” says Butt, who visited her there. “Go shopping. She took care of herself. He made a budget. She was doing her makeup and nails.” Tucker visited Beacham in early June. “It was just amazing to see her, because she was completely calm and steady and seemed very happy. She felt like a whole new person, but with all the very beautiful parts of her,” she says. Beacham then came to London because the police wanted to fingerprint her. “On Sunday, July 17, Jessica was taken to London police headquarters on an outstanding warrant,” London police said in a statement to The London Free Press.

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Woodstock police drove Beacham to London. Usually the police department issues the warrant that a person would receive in another jurisdiction, but sometimes other police departments help out, the London police statement said. “During her short time at HQ, Jessica was fingerprinted pursuant to the warrant and released. After her release she was given food and drinks to take with her. “Jessica shared a specific residence location she was headed to and indicated she did not need assistance getting there,” police say. Citing privacy concerns, London police won’t say what warrant or charge brought Beacham to London for fingerprinting. The most recent charge sheet for Beacham in the London court dates back to 2020, but the news may not yet be processed, a court official told the Free Press.

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On the evening of Sunday July 17, Batt responded to a call that Beetham was trying to break into the Ark Aid on Dundas Street. “I thought it couldn’t be Jessica. I just talked to her on the phone Wednesday in Woodstock and she was excited to get an apartment,” Butt said. “It was really heartbreaking to see because he was back to where he was before he went to rehab.” Beacham looked like she’d been hit, and was half-clothed, covered in dirt, “just gone, really, really high,” Butt said. Butt was off for the next two days and told Beetham he would take her to Harvey on Wednesday. She and a colleague called the London Cares service team to check on Beacham that night, Butt said “And as far as I know, they came to check on her as well but they couldn’t find her, she had moved away from that location. “

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On Monday, July 18, Ark Aid staff found Beacham and brought her to the organisation’s building on King Street so she could…