RVBH hosting community event for International Overdose Awareness Day

RiverValley Behavioral Health (RVBH) will be hosting a family-friendly community event to recognize International Overdose Awareness Day from 4 to 7 p.m. on Wednesday, Aug. 21, at Moreland Park, 1215 Hickman Ave. This is the second year that RVBH has recognized the day with an evening of family focused activities, speakers and community camaraderie.

The goal of the event, said Nicki Feher, RVBH’s vice president of nursing and prescribers services, is to help provide information and support to the community to help “change the stigma associated with overdose and addiction in general.”

The 2023 Kentucky Drug Overdose Fatality Report, which can be found publicly on the Kentucky.gov website, fatal drug overdoses in the state are actually trending downward at about a 10% decrease since 2022 from 2,135 overdoses to 1,984 in 2023.

However, Feher pointed out by utilizing statistics from the same report, that overdoses in the age groups of zero to four years old and 55 to 74, overdose rates are trending upwards.

“That data helps confirm that overdoses aren’t always because of substance abuse disorders,” she explained. “These can be children that are accidentally getting ahold of perfectly legal prescriptions or older adults forgetting and accidentally taking too much of a prescribed medication. These facts are why it’s so important for us to help educate the community and change the narrative and stigma surrounding overdoses.”

These are reasons why, according to Feher and Kayley Edelen, a collaboration specialist with RVBH’s Regional Prevention Center, RVBH has chosen to provide a family-friendly event to the community.

“It’s important for us to reach all demographics because the more people we can reach, the more education we can provide,” Edelen said.

Feher attributes the decline in overall overdoses to increased education and with making the drug naloxone, sold under the brand name of Narcan, more readily available to the public.

Naloxone is an opioid antagonist, a medication used to reverse or reduce the effects of opioids in the event of a potential overdose. The drug can come in injectable, intravenous or nasal spray options. Opioids are prescription drugs that are used to treat moderate-to-serve pain, often following injuries or surgeries, or to treat pain from health conditions such as cancer. Some of the most common opioids include Tylenol with Codeine, Lortab, Vicodin, Percocet and OxyContin, to name a few.

According to literature presented by RVBH, synthetic opioids are a major contributor to fatal and nonfatal overdoses in the United States. The most recognizable name in synthetic opioids is, according to the same literature, Fentanyl. Fentanyl can be deadly even in small doses, and the synthetic opioid is often added to other illicit substances to aid in potency, allowing those drugs to be more addictive and more dangerous. Fentanyl can be 50 times stronger than heroin and 100 times stronger than morphine.

RVBH has participated in a grant program called the Substance Abuse and Mental Health Services Administration grant (SAMHSA) through the state and federal government to allow the distribution of free Narcan into the community. Free Narcan can be picked up at the RVBH office on Walnut Street, The Gathering Pointe on Fourth Street or The Crowne on Second Street.

“We will also be distributing free Narcan to the community at the event on Wednesday,” Feher said. “There’s also various other locations around the community that offer free Narcan pick-up, like the health department.”

Feher mentioned that Owensboro Health has also been able to take advantage of the grant.

“Hospital representatives contacted us to ask our opinion on the best places to put the Narcan so that community members can have easy access to the product if they need it,” Feher said.

Feher also suggested that opioid testing strips, which can be purchased in drug stores and from retailers like Amazon, can be helpful at preventing overdoses.

“We used to be able to provide testing strips for free to the community, but the grant we relied on for help with that lost funding,” she said.

Hayden said that RVBH’s Overdose Awareness Day at the Park is helping to promote a national message of “Together We Can” in regards to addressing the opioid crisis and overdoses that follow.

“We’ve noticed that by having a visible, family-focused event for the entire community, we can provide, not only education, but a way to generate the conversation around overdose and addiction,” she said. “Plus, we can also offer resources for those who might be grieving the loss of a loved one due to overdose or different programs for those individuals seeking help with addiction.”

“We find that a lot of times, loved ones of individuals who overdose aren’t provided the same compassion to grieve as those who have lost people in other ways. There’s the attitude that folks who overdose deserve it for putting themselves in the position,” Feher explained. “This is why changing the narrative and the stigma is so important, because addiction desperately needs to be seen as a disease and viewed more compassionately.”

Feher also emphasized the importance of beginning education while kids are still young to increase awareness.

“In this day and age, and it’s sad to admit, that kids should be careful even taking candy from their friends because of how much illicit drugs can look like non dangerous candies, like Skittles and Nerds Ropes,” she said.

RVBH will be providing resource materials for those wanting to initiate therapy services, whether that’s to help with grief from a loved ones passing or to begin a path to treatment.

“We also recognize that RiverValley isn’t the only option for treatment in the area, so we’ve invited various organizations that work with individuals in recovery or that provide other resources to the community, to the day at the park,” Hayden said.

International Overdose Awareness Day is actually on Aug. 31, but that falls during this year’s Labor Day weekend, so the event’s organizers decided to host the event prior to the international day to be able to reach as many people in the community as possible.

Free pizza, a petting zoo, DJ, free Kona Ice snow cones, giveaways, other family-friendly activities and entertainment, along with educational resources and the Narcan giveaways are expected at the event. The entire community is invited to attend.

“We’ll also have an area, last year it was a tree of remembrance, where community members can place the names of their loved ones who have lost their lives through overdose. Additionally, RVBH will have therapists stationed around the remembrance area in case anyone needs extra support and comfort,” Feher said.

“We also encourage people to share their stories regarding overdose with the community at the event,” Hayden said. “There will be many non-judgmental ears to listen and comfort those who are grieving at the event.”

Last year’s event drew a crowd of more than 400 attendees, so organizers are hoping to reach even more members of the community on Wednesday evening.