On December 20, 2024, the following article, written by Cathy Dyson, was on the front page of the Free Lance-Star. From the article:
“The Fredericksburg area is moving in a new direction where we realize if we’re gonna change the community and the narrative, we have to work together,” said Barb Barlow, executive director of Mental Health America Fredericksburg Region. “This group has for-profits, nonprofits, governmental entities, including schools, engaged and that’s what’s going to have to happen.”
Donors to the local branch of Mental Health America paid for the bus signs, and the organization recently changed its mission to include services for both mental health issues and substance abuse disorder. The two tend to occur together, Barlow said.
The full article:
An area coalition that focuses on ways to reduce deaths from drug overdoses is taking its message on the road.
The Save 1 Life initiative has partnered with Fredericksburg Regional Transit, also known as FXBGO!, to install posters on all 30 buses in the fleet. The campaign encourages everyone to carry Narcan, which temporarily reverses the effects of an opioid overdose. The posters include a QR code which accesses the Save 1 Life website at www.save1lifefxbg.org and information on where to get free Narcan. Those interested also can call their local health department or the Rappahannock Area Health District at 540/899-4797.
The logic behind the campaign is simple, said Carmen Greiner, a therapist with Lighthouse Counseling of Fredericksburg and active member of the coalition.
“We need this because people are still dying,” she said. “We’ve been working on this for years, and despite all of the things we’ve done in the community, we offer treatment, we offer outreach, we have programs in the jails, we have programs in the hospitals, we’re doing so many things and yet folks are still falling through the cracks.”
According to the Virginia Department of Health, 33 local residents went to emergency rooms in September for drug overdoses. They represent Fredericksburg and the counties of Caroline, Spotsylvania and Stafford. King George also is part of the Rappahannock Area Health District, but the recent numbers don’t include the county.
Figures from last year do, and show 275 local residents visited emergency departments for all types of drug overdoses in 2023. Of that total, 63 people died.
However, the death toll was much higher the year before, in 2022, when overdoses claimed 123 local residents. Statewide numbers have seen the same decline, particularly in deaths from opioids, said Michelle Wagaman, prevention services director with the Rappahannock Area Community Services Board.
“I believe the increased availability of Narcan/Naloxone is contributing to less fatalities,” she said. “If more people are trained to recognize and respond to a potential opioid overdose, and Narcan is available, we can save lives in our community.”
Narcan is a brand name of Naloxone, which blocks the effects of opiates on the brain and restores breathing. Naloxone works only if a person has opiates in his or her system.
Bus riders tend to check out ads on display during the trips, and the poster is “another resource at their fingertips,” said Melody Fowler, deputy director of FXBGO! Given the service’s ridership, there will be a lot of eyes on the ads; in FY 24, there were 332,441 individual trips taken on the regional transit system.
In addition, the posters represent a new approach an epidemic that’s killed more than half a million Americans since 1999.
“The Fredericksburg area is moving in a new direction where we realize if we’re gonna change the community and the narrative, we have to work together,” said Barb Barlow, executive director of Mental Health America Fredericksburg Region. “This group has for-profits, nonprofits, governmental entities, including schools, engaged and that’s what’s going to have to happen.”
Donors to the local branch of Mental Health America paid for the bus signs, and the organization recently changed its mission to include services for both mental health issues and substance abuse disorder. The two tend to occur together, Barlow said.
Likewise, agencies have been working since an initial town hall in 2017 to collaborate on ideas. The Save 1 Life approach, which started two years ago, focuses more on harm reduction strategies which are ways to keep people safe until they’re ready to seek treatment, Greiner said.
“We come it at from an approach that says, you’re not a bad person, we just want you not to die,” she said.
Harm reduction doesn’t mean “anything goes” and does not condone, endorse or encourage drug use, according to the National Harm Reduction Coalition. Instead, it focuses on preventing death and other serious outcomes with strategies such as providing test strips to determine if there’s fentanyl in drugs; medication assisted treatment such as methadone and suboxone; providing condoms to prevent spread of disease; and offering medication disposal kits, gun buy-backs and needle-exchange kits.
There’s also a national service called the Never Use Alone hotline at 1-877/696-1996 which has someone available over the phone to help drug users establish a safety plan and get medical help, if needed.
“I’m really proud of the community coming together to come up with ways to help people rather than penalize people who are going through a tough time,” said Sarah Buskirk, a former public defender in Fredericksburg who operates a sober-living home for women.
She looks at harm reduction strategies the same way she recognized the need for a place for women to live in a safe place as they recovered from addiction. She opened Her House, which stands for Homes Empowering Recovery, in Fredericksburg in August 2024.
“If you can give people just one more day, tomorrow could be the next day that they get better and choose to recover,” she said. “If somebody overdoses, that day won’t come.”
Cathy Dyson: 540/374-5425 cdyson@freelancestar.com
Spreading the word, and safety
The Save 1 Life coalition plans to do more educational events in 2025 at local farmers markets and regional events.
The team also wants to provide Narcan, which reduces the effects of opioid overdose, in high-risk areas for drug use, including local hotels, said Darian Hugo of Brightview Health and a member of the Save 1 Life board.
“We’ll continue doing things that are important for the community to keep everyone safe and knowledgeable,” she said.
Since Save 1 Life formed in 2022, it has distributed 866 doses of Narcan; 656 medication disposal kits; 159 lockboxes for all types of drugs, including prescriptions; 96 kits to test drugs for potency; 34 first-aid kits; and 19 bottles for needle disposal.
Coalition members, who represent more than 20 businesses, nonprofits and state and federal agencies, have made presentations to 15 local agencies ranging from the Rappahannock Regional Jail Board Authority to the Moss Free Clinic; attended 12 community events; and spoken to four local government boards.
Save 1 Life also has received more than $50,000 in donated services, supplies or grants from the community.
The team would like to purchase a van, staffed with volunteers who would travel the Rappahannock Area Health District to distribute kits, supplies and education, and in the process, foster relationships with people who use drugs. The estimated cost for the van is $60,000.
More information on harm reduction strategies is available at 540/907-0121.