FIT FOR DUTY

WRITER: JAMES COMBS / PHOTOS: MATTHEW GAULIN

Danny Chimento and his firefighting crew rush to a house engulfed in smoke and flames.

As additional information is provided by the dispatch center, the team hears those dreaded words that make every firefighter’s heart race: “There are several people trapped inside the home.”

The firefighters arrive. They wear more than 60 pounds of protective gear, haul heavy hose lines into the home and carry unconscious victims to safety, all the while trying not to become disoriented in the dense smoke. Chimento has survived situations just like those multiple times.

“Those moments are when we truly earn our money,” he says. “When people are involved, you feel like you have to move much faster, because every second is so important.”

The enormity of such tasks requires firefighters to be in tip-top shape. That’s why Danny has exercised vigorously since joining Lake County Fire Rescue 13 years ago.

“Being a firefighter is a physically demanding job,” he says. “I wasn’t going to be one of those guys who gets in shape the first few years on the job and then let myself go. Some firefighters suffer injuries and are forced to retire early. That is less likely to happen if you are in good physical shape.”

Danny is 36. Not a day goes by when he isn’t engaging in either traditional strength training or high-intensity interval training. The very nature of their job requires firefighters to have the strength of a power lifter and the stamina of a marathon runner.

“Exercising to achieve strength and endurance is definitely a balancing act,” Danny says. “I never try to do too much of one or another.”

Seven years ago, Danny discovered a healthy diet is equally important to his wellbeing. He noticed immediate benefits after eliminating processed food and sugar.

“Before changing my diet I experienced peaks and valleys in my energy level throughout the day,” he says. “Now, I always feel vibrant and energetic. Another benefit is I no longer suffer from allergies.”

No doubt, Danny wears his firefighter badge with pride and feels it’s an obligation to keep in shape.

“As firefighters, we are here for the citizens,” he says. “When their lives are at stake, it is our responsibility to be on top of our game both physically and mentally.”

DANNY’S EXERCISE ROUTINE

• High-intensity interval training: 100 push-ups, pull-ups, sit-ups and squats in one day.

• Strength training: Bench pressing and dumbbells. Also uses 100-pound sandbags for dead lifts and overhead presses.

Danny’s diet consists primarily of:

• Grass-fed beef

• Grass-fed chicken

• Eggs

• Fruits

• Vegetables

• Almond milk

The women of Ruth House name their demons on handmade signs when they speak at churches or share their heartbreaking stories with civic groups. They’ve learned that you have bare your soul to save it.

WRITER: GARY CORSAIR PHOTOS: GARY CORSAIR+FRED LOPEZ

A Styrofoam cup on a countertop bears the words, “Don’t throw away,” a message from one addict to the others who share her refrigerator.

The message could also be the creed of the addicts’ temporary home, Ruth House, a Umatilla transitional shelter where women in crisis learn to change by using “principles of recovery and Christ.”

There are no throwaways in the eyes of Rebecca Randall, director of Ruth House and founder of the nonprofit group Women In God.

Not even the 37-year-old druggie with a rap sheet a mile long.

“Maris one t he back recalled b graduatio Mariss late out before add ict ion ually Rebecca e ore

“Marissa was actually one of the fi rst Ruth House girls back in 2007,” Rebecca recalled. “She came back in 2010, but left before graduation.”

Marissa returned three years later, but again skipped out before beating her addictions.

“I’ve be and on, fo cocaine. I my record convict ion

“I’ve been an addict, off and on, for 17 years,” Marissa says. “My problem was crack cocaine. I have 50 charges on my record, 34 arrests and 29 convictions.”

Like m approxim d t hree n her d ict, ,” Marissa was crack harges on ts and 29 women ut h t

Like many of the approximately 300 women who have lived at Ruth House, Marissa left too soon. Twice.

“I wasn’t being honest with myself,” she says. “I believe now in my heart I was scared.”

Marissa returned to Ruth House earlier this year. She was fi nally ready. This time, she stayed for 10 months.

No one can accuse Angel of leaving too soon.

The 53-year-old mother of five spent two years rewiring her brain at Ruth House after abusing alcohol and drugs most of her life.

“I had a lot of false beliefs,” Angel says, “but I’ve learned to trust in God.”

Angel’s once-estranged daughter thinks so, too.

“Her children didn’t want anything to do with her,” Rebecca says. “I spent lots of time talking to Angel’s daughter about addiction.”

The words sunk in.

“I reconnected with my daughter about a month ago,” Angel sobs. “I cried. I didn’t think it would happen. It couldn’t have happened without a higher power.”

It’s different with Jenny’s children.

They’re too young to comprehend that Mommy sold her body, was madam for a stable of 12 whores and stole to support a $3,000-a-day drug habit.

And they can’t understand why she left to live with an Angel in an old house named after a Bible character.

“I told my 9-year-old daughter, ‘Mommy is going to the doctor to make her better,’” Jenny says. “My daughter said, ‘Does that mean when you come home you’re actually going to like yourself?’”

The 28-year-old who fi rst smoked pot at age 8 begins crying. Jenny has been at Ruth House for just one day and already misses her children terribly.

Lisa wasn’t as fortunate.

A judge declared her an unfit mother and removed her 11-month-old daughter from her home, which sent Lisa even deeper into the morass that landed her in court.

“I spent the last five years trying to get high, trying to numb my feelings, instead of trying to get my daughter back,” Lisa says.

Crack. Heroin. Crystal meth. Morphine. Opiates. Xanax.

“The opiates had the biggest hold on me,” Lisa says. “I went right back to them when I got out of jail. I’d been up three days on ice and doing heroin when I took 12 Xanax. I ate every one of them and then swallowed a cold beer. I was comatose for four days.”

Lisa came to Ruth House last year, but left after a week and a half. She returned this year. Nine months later, she’s trying to regain custody of her daughter.

There are no June Cleavers in the 104-year-old house Rebecca Randall and her husband donated to the charity they founded.

The women of Ruth House have done 12-steps, detox centers and prison. Ruth House women are linked by weakness and heartbreak. But they’re also bound by hope.

They’ve come to the right place.

“I’m a recovering crack cocaine addict of 26 years,” Rebecca says matter-of-factly.

“I’m the original Ruth House woman.”

Rebecca reclaimed her life at Women’s Care Center in Leesburg.

“That’s where I was introduced to most of the tools we use at Ruth House,” Rebecca says.

The tools include “Conquering Chemical Dependency,” “Conquering Codependency” and other books by Christian author Robert McGee.

Women in God also borrows from strategies developed by Alcoholics Anonymous and Narcotics Anonymous.

Three licensed counselors help Rebecca craft a personalized recovery plan for each woman.

“We have to go back and figure out why they are wounded, back to where it began,” Rebecca says. “We learned incorrect coping skills based on our hurt. We use a 12-step recovery not they say Jesus is the Son of God,” Rebecca says.

Faith is only one tool.

“When they’re exposed to crisis again — and they will face crisis again — we want them to have as many tools as possible,” Rebecca says.

The ultimate tool is a network of people who survived addiction.

“We help them build a support team of people who help them succeed,” Rebecca says. “Someone has to come along and say, ‘We love you, we can teach you life skills.’ Everybody wants to be fully known, fully loved, fully accepted.” program, a tradition Chr istia Christ are but rather than use al 12-step an our program, but rather than use a traditional 12-step program, it’s Christian. God and Jesus Christ are our higher power.”

Yet bel ie un locks Ru door

Yet belief isn’t the key that unlocks Ruth House’s front door.

“We love them whether or

Rebecca embrac t hat someone, even hh

Rebecca embraces being that someone, even though it means her heart will be repeatedly broken by women who relapse.

But nearly half of the Ruth

House women succeed.

“Its true rehab,” Rebecca says. “Forty-two percent who leave Ruth House do so after learning new behaviors. Nationally, 8 to 12 percent complete rehab.”

“It is so important to have a safe place to go when you fall,” says Jonna Miller, a 34-year-old Ruth House graduate who will serve as director of the second Ruth House when it opens in 2015. “It’s important to have a place where there are people who love you. This is a safe place.”

Robin is proof.

“I was a crackhead,” the slender 40-year-old says. “I prostituted. I dealt drugs. I beat the o was not a ver y three kids four or sober, m then relapse an The fi ft h my children, m another br I had a nine-m was ab beat the crap out of people. I was not a very nice person. My three kids were in and out of DCF four or five times. I’d get sober, get my kids back, then relapse and lose them again. The fi fth time I lost my children, my career and another guy broke my heart. I had a nine-month relapse. I was arrested about 17 times.” community control, two years probation and Ruth House.

“I came in extremely wounded and beat down,” she remembers. “I wondered, ‘Where do I go from here?’ Spiritually, I was just dead. I wanted to die.”

Robin was fa in when were answered

Robin was facing 15 years in prison when her prayers were answered.

Instead, the woman who spent 13 years in and out of recovery while battling addiction learned how to live.

“God told me, ‘Plead guilty and trust in me,’” she says.

“God told me a and trust in me

The sentence

The sentence? Two years

“There’s a certain level of submission in each phase. I started getting to know God, getting to know who Robin is. God opened the door. I didn’t expect it and I didn’t deserve it,” Robin said. the love of my life: opiates,” she says.

A new Robin emerged after nine months.

She became a behavioral health technician, Sunday school teacher, a mentor for women in crisis and the director of a sober living house. And her children gave her another chance.

“I learned how to be a mommy, a leader,” Robin says. “I have three years clean and sober. And that’s super cool.” Jonna can relate.

“I learned that what we believe about ourselves is how we behave,” she says. It took 10 months. Jonna was very broken.

The love affair lasted about 10 years.

“I was a full-blown user by age 22 or 23,” she says.

“I went to several treatment centers and detox centers. The last two weeks of using, I prayed and asked God to let me die or change.” performed their lifesaving work on less than $68,000, including $55,771 in donations, in 2013.

By then she had lost a daughter to death, and lost the custody of another.

She was ready to be loved and educated.

“It has been a challenge,” Rebecca says in a quiet voice. “Our budget has always been what it is.” this,” she said in November. She left three days later, proving the truth of something else she said: “I’m my own worst enemy.” did

Ruth House graduate Dondi Cote, a volunteer publicist, hopes to bolster the budget in 2015 through fundraisers.

None of the women mentioned in this story is still at Ruth House.

Angel, the bootlegger’s granddaughter who holds the record for longest stay at Ruth House, has an apartment and a job.

She just might make it.

Marissa, the 37-year-old who was arrested 34 times, is also on the straight and narrow.

Lisa, who boasted, “The people I used to get dope from wouldn’t recognize me now,” vanished a few days before her graduation.

“I smoked marijuana and did other things until I met is shor t miracu lous. sta her na and r aff week

014 y broken. ked

What happens in the creaky house with sagging cabinet doors, cracked kitchen countertop and outdated plumbing is nothing short of miraculous.

Rebecca and her staff

Jenny lasted less than a week.

“I’m determined to conquer

ANGELA

“She’s doing great. She’s in California and she’s doing really, really well,” Rebecca says. “I wasn’t going to work with her again. But the Holy Spirit told me she was ready this time.” t his t ime.”