WREXHA SLEEPS WHERE SHE CAN. SHE SEES HERSELF AS A PROTECTOR OF WOMEN ON THE STREETS AND STILL HAS A SEETHING HATRED OF BULLIES. “We see a lot of frostbite in the winter, which leads to amputations and lifelong disability,” Axelrath said. “Then we see the opposite in the summer: heat stroke and heat exhaustion.” People are also struck by cars or scooters, attacked, or fall ill from pollution and environmental hazards. “We see a lot of skin and soft tissue infections just because they don’t always have reliable access to basic hygiene,” Axelrath said. “It doesn’t take that much for something that starts as a mild infection to progress to something pretty bad.” Respiratory illness is another recurring issue. “They’re inhaling smoke and exhaust fumes and staying in industrial areas [where they are less likely to be noticed] with dust or other chemicals,” Axelrath said. Physical dangers often lead to emotional trauma, and the trauma itself feeds back into homelessness. One of the most misunderstood aspects of life on the streets, Axelrath said, is how trauma and fear can drive substance use. “Substance use as a cause of homelessness is not even in the top three,” she said. “The top causes are housing instability, unaffordability, and unemployment.” But once people are on the streets, drug use often becomes a coping mechanism for extreme circumstances, Axelrath said. “Many people who are homeless did not use meth before they became homeless,” Axelrath said. “They end up using meth during homelessness because they are trying to stay awake at night so they can be safe and not feel so vulnerable.” That survival strategy can quickly trap people in a cycle of exhaustion and addiction. “There’s nowhere safe for them to sleep during the day,” she said. “So sometimes they use opiates to come down and try to get a little sleep. If they can’t, they use more meth to stay awake, and they get trapped in this cycle of profound sleep deprivation and escalating substance use.” Traditional healthcare systems are rarely equipped to meet those realities. Many patients turn to emergency rooms, which provide only short-term solutions. STREET MEDICINE AND INTEGRATED OUTREACH models are growing, Axelrath said, driven by younger healthcare workers eager to serve outside of traditional clinics. That gives her hope. “We could work anywhere else, but we all work here by choice because we think it’s important and we really like doing it. That inspires me every day.” For Axelrath, the goal is simple but urgent: meet people where they are, literally and emotionally, before the system fails them entirely. Despite the agony of Wrexha’s injury, she insists she has seen much worse on the streets. She said she knew a man who froze to death in a porta-potty in Pueblo while he tried to survive a particularly cold night. “Someone has to die for things to change,” she said. FOR WREXA, HER WOUND IS MORE THAN AN INJURY – IT’S PROOF OF WHAT PEOPLE OUTSIDE ENDURE UNSEEN. December 2025 DENVER VOICE 11 “They finally opened the shelters [during extreme weather], but a man had to freeze to death.” She paused, eyes heavy but fierce. “You’re gonna die in your sleep,” she imagined someone saying. “I won’t. I’m too powerful. I have trained and honed my body to be a fighting force, and that’s why I fight homelessness.” Wrexha studies the swollen mark on her thumb, the scar left from the burrowing insect. For her, it’s more than an injury — it’s proof of what people outside endure unseen. “I can live out here and sleep in a yard and survive the cold night,” she said. “That’s all I need. Thank you.”
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