In the Works - Community Newsletter In the Works April 2017 | Page 37

Pit Stop Monitor Lauded for Saving a Life
Marcus Player was nearing the
end of his shift as a monitor
at the Pit Stop public toilet at
Victoria Manalo Draves Park on
the afternoon of April 6 when
he noticed something was off:
A woman using the bathroom
was in there for a long time.
He knocked on the door to
ask if everything was OK. She
responded yes. More time passed.
He knocked again. No answer. He
went inside and saw her down on
the floor, unresponsive.
“I didn’t know if she was dead or
what,” he said.
Player immediately called 911. He
stayed with her until help arrived.
The woman had overdosed
on drugs. When emergency
medical personnel arrived, they
administered naloxone, which
can reverse an opiate overdose –
waking the person up and getting
them breathing again.
“If I could do it all over again, I
would,” he said.
“Because of you, she is alive
today,” Supervisor Jane Kim told
Player when presenting him with
a special certificate of honor at
City Hall on April 25.
Kim, who represents the South
of Market neighborhood where
the park is located, said that since
Player came on board as the
bathroom monitor in December,
Victoria Manalo Draves Park
has become safer and cleaner,
so much so that neighborhood
families and students from the
nearby school started visiting
again.
“It has made such a difference,”
Kim said.
Player, who is moving to Los
Angles for family reasons,
admitted that he was scared when
he found the woman passed out,
but didn’t panic and just was glad
that he could get her help.
The Pit Stop program, managed
by Public Works, now operates
in 17 locations in eight
neighborhoods and provides
people with safe and clean
bathrooms. Collectively, the Pit
Stops get more than 25,000 uses
a month.
The Recreation and Park
Department sponsors the Victoria
Manalo Draves Park Pit Stop. A
new monitor will replace Player.
What makes a Pit Stop a Pit Stop
is that the bathrooms are staffed.
Hunters Point Family is our
nonprofit partner that hires the
monitors as part of a workforce
development program.
April 2017 - San Francisco Public Works Newsle