"There's help out there"

Purple hearts adorned Coeur d'Alene City Park on Tuesday afternoon to memorialize the lives of 265 Idahoans lost to drug overdose since August 2020.

Tuesday marked the recognition of International Overdose Awareness Day, and September is National Recovery Month.

Together, the events aim to increase awareness surrounding mental health and substance abuse.

The North Idaho AIDS Coalition members and its partner organizations — the Panhandle Health District and Kootenai Recovery Community Center — brought these events to Kootenai County Tuesday afternoon.

"Awareness day is the world's largest annual campaign to end overdose," NIAC Executive Director Theresa Davis said. "(It) remembers without stigma those who have died and acknowledges the grief of the family and friends left behind."

On Tuesday, representatives of the three organizations passed out information about drug overdose, Naloxone — a medication used to reverse opioid overdose — and services available for those in need.

Increasing awareness of drug use in North Idaho is critical, NIAC Prevention Coordinator Roxanne Esparza said. NIAC, a local nonprofit that provides health resources for people affected by HIV and AIDS, also offers recovery-related assistance.

"A lot of people believe that (drug overdose) doesn't necessarily happen here," Esparza said. "It's a little more hidden, but it is here in our community."

The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention reported over 89,000 drug overdose deaths between Oct. 2020 and June 2021.

In the Gem State, the CDC reported 1,221 Idahoans died from a drug overdose between 2015 and 2019. Preliminary CDC data predicts an additional 284 Idahoans died from an overdose in 2020.

"Drug overdose has continued to rise in our district comparable to national trends as the potency of illicit substances has also increased," PHD Project Manager 1 Kelsey Orlando said.

Health departments are increasingly seeing a link between overdose deaths and prescription painkillers called opiates. Medical professionals prescribe opiates to help relieve moderate-to-severe pain, often following surgery, injury or specific health conditions. According to the Idaho Office of Drug Policy, they can also cause euphoria or a high that leads to addiction.

"Drug use can start as a soccer mom who got injured, went to the doctor and was prescribed an opioid," Esparza said. "Things like that happen every day and can lead to an overdose."

Orlando said recently, drugs like fentanyl — a synthetic opioid 50 to 100 times the potency of morphine — are being mixed into other illegal substances. Fentanyl and the combined materials can have fatal outcomes, she said.

"The drug overdose increase is present in the rate of people visiting local emergency departments in our district due to a nonfatal opioid overdose," Orlando said, referencing CDC data.

"In 2019, the rate of opioid overdose-related presentations was 7.4 visits per 10,000 visits," she said. "In 2020, the rate nearly doubled to 13.2 visits per 10,000 visits."

The Kootenai Recovery Community Center, a free peer-based recovery support service located in Coeur d'Alene, works with individuals battling substance use disorders to connect them with local resources. Within the last five years, KRCC Director Lisa Alberts said the organization had moved facilities several times to accommodate increasing client needs.

"The overdose rates are climbing," Alberts said. "We need people to know more about substance use, which is why we are here today to start that conversation."

Through awareness of substance symptoms and overdose medications like Naloxone, Davis hopes the organizations can educate the public on responding when needed.

Orlando said that the prevention, treatment and recovery of substance use disorder is one of PHD's top priorities. The district offers preventive programs through grant funding for education, anti-stigma media campaigns and agency partnerships that provide direct harm reduction, treatment and recovery services.

NIAC is planning to begin hosting virtual Narcotics Anonymous meetings through Zoom on Oct. 1, Davis said.

"We want people to know that there's help out there and not to be afraid to say, 'Hey, I need help,'" she said.

Info: www.northidahoaidscoalition.org, www.kootenairecovery.org, www.pandhandlehealthdistrict.org