ESCONDIDO, Calif. — A North County healthcare center is offering free tattoo removals for former gang members and human trafficking survivors. It's a service that can cost thousands of dollars.
Neighborhood Healthcare in Escondido started the tattoo removal program in 2016. But it was put on pause during the pandemic. Thanks to grants from both the Parker Foundation and the county, the program is back on.
One man who went through the process says it's been life-changing.
“You’re a new person,” said Jesse Ramirez.
For nearly a decade, Ramirez says the tattoo that covered his neck defined who he was.
“It said, ‘trust no one.’ And that's what it was, you know, I trusted nobody. And I had it from ear to ear. I was going through a lot in a period of time," said Ramirez.
Ramirez didn't want to show CBS 8 photos, saying just as his tattoo has disappeared, so has his past life, which included drug addiction and crime.
“Just heavy on drug use and bad environment, always around a bad environment," said Ramirez.
Ramirez says motivation from his kids, as well as his wife's insistence on getting clean is what turned things around.
He enrolled in a program called Victory Home in Escondido.
Then, one day, while at church, he heard about the tattoo removal program at Neighborhood Healthcare.
"I was at church and they said, hey they got a tattoo removal program. I was like, what? Really? So, I signed up for it and and I got approved," said Ramirez.
One year, and more than a dozen sessions later, Ramirez's tattoo is hardly visible.
Dr. James Schultz, Neighborhood Healthcare's Chief Medical Officer, performed his removal.
"We've worked with dozens and dozens of not only gang members, or former gang members, but victims of human trafficking as well," said Dr. Schultz.
Dr. Schultz says there is currently a wait list since the program was on hiatus during the pandemic.
Applications are submitted through Escondido's Compact Program, which works to help expand people's career and educational opportunities.
Schultz said by the time he sees patients, they've gone through a program of vocational rehab and job interview training.
“They're really ready to kind of become productive members of society again," he said. "And so we've seen these folks, after, you know, after going through the tattoo removal process, they're able to get jobs, they're able to get back with their families, they're able to become productive members of society again."
He added, "And in the case of the victims of human trafficking, as you might imagine, it's just a constant daily reminder of what they went through."
The goal is to give people like Ramirez a fresh start, following a life he vows never to return to.
“No, no more turning back. Gotta keep going forward.”
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