AKRON, Ohio — For International Overdose Awareness Day on Wednesday, community leaders in Summit County came together to speak out against the stigma surrounding addiction, share resources, and give updated numbers of overdose deaths in the county.
Through a virtual press conference, Summit County Medical Examiner Dr. Lisa Kohler shared that for 2022, as of August 28, Summit County experienced 156 overdose deaths, compared to 157 reported in the same timeframe in 2021.
That makes a 17% increase since 2020, according to Dr. Kohler. She also named fentanyl, methamphetamine, and cocaine as large contributors to deaths in recent years.
“We are still seeing a high level of overdose deaths in our community taking away family members and friends,” Dr. Kohler added. “But the most concerning thing that we’ve seen over the past few years is the increase in African American female overdose deaths.”
“Our approach is to really have conversations in the community because I don’t know that there’s awareness, you know, of what is going on in the Black community in regards to the overdoses that are occurring,” said Aimee Wade, Alcohol, Drug Addiction & Mental Health Services Board executive director.
Wade also suggested the ADM Addiction Helpline as a resource for those who need assistance at 330-940-1133. The helpline can direct and connect callers to different agencies and resources and create appointments. Beginning September 1, Wade said that number will have 24 hour access.
Nationwide, the CDC estimates there were about 107,622 drug overdose deaths in the United States in 2021, compared to about 93,655 estimated in 2020. The CDC also noted that overdose deaths involving opioids and synthetic opioids, psychostimulants, and cocaine are on the rise.
Donna Skoda, Summit County Health Commissioner, warned that they have been seeing drugs being mixed with fentanyl, which can be more potent, and therefore more dangerous. She also urged the use of resources like drug test strips so that users can have a clearer picture of what they’re taking.
“Treatment works, and we need to get folks into treatment, but they need to live long enough to get to treatment,” she said.
One such treatment option is Stella Maris, an addiction and mental health treatment resource in Cleveland, which includes services like withdrawal management, intensive outpatient programs, and recovery housing, among other resources.
Kelli Wall is director of development and advancement at Stella Maris, and knows personally the meaning of International Overdose Awareness Day.
Wall affectionally calls Christian her “bonus son;” while they weren’t biologically related, she took him in and loved him like her own child.
“Instantly people loved Christian, little kids loved Christian, animals loved Christian,” she said. “Everybody loved Christian.”
But even those closest to Christian didn’t know that underneath the surface of a 23-year-old described as soft spoken and thoughtful, he was struggling.
“It turned out that he overdosed and died from taking fentanyl,” Wall said.
On February 21, 2017, Wall learned that Christian hadn’t arrived at work. She went home to look for him, and found him dead. Wall said no one knew that Christian was grappling with addiction.
“I like to call it a nuclear explosion,” she said. “I knew nothing, nobody knew anything because he was still highly functional and was working and going to school and babysitting for my grandson. Just one of the nicest, sweetest, most brilliant people ever.”
Christian didn’t grow up with Kelli, but in the aftermath of his death, Kelli learned that he eventually turned to heroin after he was no longer able to get pills, which he became addicted to after hurting himself as an athlete.
Now looking back, Wall said she sees where there could have been signs, like weight loss or increased isolation.
“I carried an enormous amount of guilt. I should have, I could have, I should have, I should have seen it,” she said. “Your brain knows that that’s not reasonable, but your heart – so I still carry a lot of that around with me.”
Wall is turning her grief and loss into a way to help others, speaking with other families and parents about the dangers of drugs, and how fentanyl can be disguised as something else.
“A lot of times it’s, ‘oh, not my child,’” she said of speaking with other families. “It’s a very dangerous, dangerous stance to take, because who would have known this would come into my family?”
Wall encourages everyone to carry Narcan, a potentially life saving drug that can help someone in the midst of an overdose. RecoveryOhio has created a website, naloxone.ohio.gov, that provides Ohioans with a way to request and obtain naloxone.
If you or someone you know is struggling with addiction, there are resources to help, including the ADAMHS Board of Cuyahoga County, Mental Health, Addiction & Recovery Services Board of Lorain County, and the County of Summit ADM Board, among other resources.
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