Jumping into a creek may have looked like a suicide attempt to
local rescuers but John Kodiak said it was all a misunderstanding
related to going
‘cold turkey’ from his prescription medication.
Jumping into a creek may have looked like a suicide attempt to local rescuers but John Kodiak said it was all a misunderstanding related to going ‘cold turkey’ from his prescription medication.
Kodiak, who lives with his wife at the Maple Leaf RV Park at 15200 Monterey Road, said he had jumped into Little Llagas Creek, swollen by a day of heavy rains, but he did so because he had been without his many prescriptions for 12 days.
Kodiak said he takes a series of medications for a back injury and a number of other ailments all of which add up to a significant amount of chemicals.
“They warned me not to stop taking the medicine all at once,” Kodiak said. The results, he was told, could be dire, as proved to be the case.
He said that though he called Santa Clara Valley Medical Center one and a half weeks before running out of medicine, the hospital had not returned his calls for prescription refills.
“The prescription refill system is flawed,” Kodiak said.
Joy Alexiou, communications director for VMC, said that she couldn’t comment on Kodiak’s case directly but did say it was technically possible for a patient to be without medication because of time glitches.
“But it would be highly unlikely,” Alexiou said. “If they didn’t call right away or didn’t get to the pharmacy in time it would be possible. It doesn’t take that much time to get a prescription filled. It depends on how diligent the patient is.”
On Wednesday, Feb. 25, passers-by saw Kodiak jump into the creek and called for help, which came almost immediately since paramedics were on duty one block away at the California Department of Forestry station.
Firefighters pulled him from the creek and administered CPR to restart his heart, Kodiak said, for which he is grateful.
Kodiak also has nothing but praise for his neighbors and managers at the RV park.
“The neighbors and the management have been excellent,” he said. The Kodiaks, who came from Alaska, have lived at the park for about eight months.
The future looks better, he said, since he has a doctor he thinks can help him through his physical troubles.
And he has an entire grocery bag full of medication.
Kodiak said he doesn’t plan to run out again.
