Portraits of Dr. Hansel Tookes and Arrow | IDEA Exchange

"An IDEA Saved my Life"- Arrow. 💉🏥

I definitely needed my running shoes on 🏃‍♀️ to keep up with Dr. Hansel Tookes for this assignment for NIDA (National Institute on Drug Abuse). As the founder and director of IDEA Exchange Miami and an assistant professor at the University of Miami Miller School of Medicine, he manages to juggle these hefty responsibilities with grace.

And talk about an inspiring human- Dr. Tookes founded the IDEA Exchange, Florida's first needle exchange program and clinic designed to help people who inject drugs, with a goal of lowering the state's high rate of HIV transmission along with other blood-borne diseases. He treats all of his patients, many of whom are living on the streets and/or struggling with mental health issues, with the utmost respect and dignity.

Dr. Hansel Tookes, founder of the IDEA Exchange, photographed by Sonya Revell, in the healthcare district in Miami, for NIDA.

As you can see in the images below, Dr. Tookes takes a very hands-on approach with his patients and has given life-saving, on-the-spot treatment to intravenous drug users living on the streets in this encampment under I-95.

In a homeless encampment under I-95, Dr. Tookes treats intravenous drug user’s abscess. Photography by Sonya Revell.

Dr. Tookes first met Arrow, pictured below, on 14th street in downtown Miami, under I-95. At the time Arrow was using heroine and cocaine daily. Now in recovery, Arrow works at the IDEA Exchange, is off the streets, and serves as an inspiration and guide to current and former drug users in Miami.

Portrait of Arrow. Former drug user, who turned his life around and now works at the IDEA Exchange in downtown Miami.

Thanks to art director (and friend) Michelle Samplin-Salgado and NIDA (National Institute on Drug Abuse) for giving me the opportunity to help document this incredible story and these inspiring folks.

Photography by: Sonya Revell

Photo assistant: Lock Denis