[By Marguerite Ward, CityLimits]

It was early morning New Year’s Day in 1999, when Orlando Ferrand, a resident of Manhattan at the time, hopped on a subway train headed toward the Bronx. He was heavily intoxicated after a night of partying and had no reason to be headed there.

When he woke up, he was at the Jacobi Medical Center in the Bronx. He had overdosed and nearly died.

“Somebody saved my life here in the Bronx, in Jacobi Hospital. I took that as a sign,” Ferrand said.

Read full story at CityLimits.org – Published Dec. 12, 2014