Breaking Stigma, Honoring Victims at Overdose Awareness Vigil
August 30, 2024
• For International Overdose Awareness Day, residents paid tribute to the lives lost to addiction and those who still struggle with drug use.
This article contains mentions of drug use and other sensitive subject matter.
While Katie Truitt recognizes the joy in her life, she said there exists “a great deal of pain.” Addiction, she said, “has touched our lives on every level.”
The mother of five lost her youngest son Matt at 27 years old from an accidental overdose, and shortly after his passing, her daughter began using heroin — she is in recovery now, going on eight years. She also lost her sister to alcohol abuse.
In recognition of International Overdose Awareness Day — on Aug. 31 — Truitt and others impacted by addiction gathered at Memorial Park to share their stories at the town’s third annual vigil. Dozens of attendees listened, prayed and lit candles, some thinking of their own relative or friend who’s struggling.
Behind them sat 2,125 pink flags, representing every confirmed opioid-related overdose death in Massachusetts in 2023. There, locals have also planted dozens of red flags, on which they wrote the names of their own loved ones who passed from an overdose: Jolie. T.J. Christine. One simply read “Daddy.”
Truitt called addiction a family disease that can target anyone. Her son was raised in Milford, where his father, a police officer, worked in the department’s drug task force, she said. By sharing her family’s story, Truitt intends to highlight the wide-reaching impact of drug use and the need to break down stigmas.
For Truitt, every day is International Overdose Awareness Day, she said.
“It can happen to anyone,” Truitt said. “It doesn’t mean we’re bad parents. It doesn’t mean anyone’s bad. It means people are sick and they need help.”
In 2023, opioid-related overdose deaths in the commonwealth decreased by 10%, from 2,357 to 2,125, according to the Department of Public Health. It’s the biggest drop in deaths since 2010, but fentanyl is a major contributor to that number.
Such was the case for Becca Schmill, a Needham student who died of fentanyl poisoning after ingesting tainted drugs at 18 years old. Her mother Deb started the Becca Schmill Foundation in her honor, bringing awareness to adolescent drug use and the many factors that contribute to it, including social media and mental health.
Through the foundation, Schmill has co-hosted Needham’s vigil since its inception, in part to reduce the stigma around drug use. While Becca had mental health resources, her mom said such services often aren’t the first place children turn to. After a number of traumatic experiences, including sexual assault and cyberbullying, Becca turned to drugs as a temporary relief, Deb Schmill said. She called it “the perfect storm.”
In Becca’s memory, Schmill seeks to bring awareness to overdoses, and the vigil has only grown in attendance and support since its inception.
“There are many reasons why people become addicted to drugs, but certainly nobody chooses to,” Schmill said. “And it’s not a moral failing. It is a disease, and often is related to trauma.”
For the Needham Public Health Division, there’s an emphasis on education and prevention, not fear-mongering, said Angi MacDonnell, a peer recovery coach. While the prevalence and proliferation of fentanyl do pose a threat, MacDonnell said it’s more effective to speak with children and parents about the dangers with facts.
“It’s really unsafe to use anything that is not prescribed to you or you didn’t purchase yourself from a drugstore. It’s really unsafe because overall, in the United States, the market is flooded with pills that look real, and you just don’t want to have a mistake, because the mistake, in this case, could be deadly,” MacDonnell said. “I just tell my kids, ‘In locker rooms, don’t take anything anybody gives you, even if they say it’s Tylenol.’”
MacDonnell, who’s been substance-free for many years, said the vigil holds space for those who’ve passed and acknowledges “the people who’ve been left behind,” she said. The more than 2,000 flags serve as a visual reminder of those deaths, she said.
Nearly 3% of Needham High School students reported misusing prescription drugs, according to results from the 2023 MetroWest Adolescent Health Survey — that’s about 30 students, said Karen Shannon, the town’s substance use prevention program coordinator.
During the vigil, Nurse Practitioner Lauren Majors, with Beth Israel Lahey, explained how opioids interact with our pain receptors and demonstrated how to use Narcan, the medication that can reverse opioid overdoses. Narcan is also safe to use even if someone is not actually overdosing, Majors said, and you cannot experience a fentanyl overdose just by touching it.
Majors also described the symptoms associated with an overdose: low respiratory rate, a weak or lack of a pulse, blue or clammy lips and fingers and no response. In the event of an overdose, Majors said to call 9-1-1 and use Narcan.
The hospital also handed out free Narcan after the ceremony. Other local advocacy organizations tabled at the event, including Needham’s Students Advocating for Life Without Substance Abuse, or SALSA.
A recovering addict himself, WCVB journalist Ted Wayman spoke about the power of addiction and the difficulty he faced when he got sober from alcohol. He compared addiction to cancer: Everyone knows someone suffering.
“I see this disease all around me, young people, old people,” Wayman said, “but the powerful thing — I see so much recovery in our community, because people are talking about it.”
