How To Save a Life

I am reasonably aware that I am given to bouts of attempted humor and that I often type with my tongue pressed firmly against my cheek which means on a day where I am being serious I risk not being appreciated either for the effort or the alarm I'm trying to sound.

All I can do is hope today will be otherwise but that's on you; all I can do is try. Here goes: With all due respect to the stream of media stories on the arguments and concerns about health care going on right now in our nation's capital we have more than a plate full of concerns about health care and mortality right here in our own backyard. 

It was shortly after Labor Day when The Bulletin had a headline and a Ryan Blessing story that caught me up short, "19 Overdose Deaths in 2017 Has Norwich Officials Seeking Answers." 

Let's face it, we've been reading news stories and watching TV reports on the growing number of drug overdose and opioid deaths in our country for so long, it's hard to keep track of when the reports began. Even as the numbers grow alarmingly larger every year, still it seems to many of us to be a problem for someone else, somewhere else. 

Not anymore. We're not talking about a mysterious virus, automobile accidents, or even pianos (and other objects) falling out of windows and landing on people. We're talking about accidental suicides, and if one is considered a tragedy what should we call are so many? A trend? A disease? How about a plague?

Ryan's report mentions "The medical examiner’s office projects 1,078 accidental drug intoxication deaths in Connecticut for all of 2017, up from 917 last year and 357 in 2012. The office reports 539 such deaths from the start of the year through June."  Go back and look at the numbers in that sentence again and help me understand the numbers it mentions. 

A company with 1,078 employees would be one of the top five largest employers in this state, that same number, 1,078, is larger than the entire Lebanon School District. I would like to think if one or the other disappeared tomorrow we'd all notice, but I am the first to concede and confess that while I knew that 19 people here in Norwich had died of drug overdoses, it hadn't really registered with me. 

But in a city with just about 40,000 people, 19 deaths through June means most of us know someone in Norwich who has a friend or a family member whose life has been shattered by a drug overdose. Here, where we live, where we've brought up our families and made our homes. Here is where we are supposed to be safe from harm.

Drug and opioid overdoses is a nationwide issue that many are calling a national emergency requiring massive amounts of federal and state dollars to combat, but here, at home is where we can make a difference and where many public and private agencies are united in combating. 

Norwich's newest initiative is Norwich Unhooked, which also includes social media outreaches on Facebook, and Instagram. It's a coalition of human services, youth and family services, schools, law enforcement, faith based organizations, parents/caregivers, youth and young adults, healthcare providers and community support services intended to connect individuals and families with information, support, and services for substance abuse prevention, intervention, and treatment. 

There cannot be enough helping hands to successfully combat the catastrophe of drug and opioid overdoses so instead of wringing yours in despair reach out to Angela Duhaime, the coordinator at (860) 823-3782 Ext 3481 and find out how to save a life.
-bill kenny