By Dan Spalding
News Now Warsaw
WINONA LAKE — Friday night’s Overdose Awareness event in Winona Lake was a chance to grieve over the loss of loved ones as much as it was a chance to strive for a better future.
Upward of 50 or so people turned out to honor those who have died from an overdose and several organizations offered support.
But there is a glimmer of hope with the realization that the number of overdose deaths in Kosciusko County has slowed this year, with the current count standing at seven, according to an updated sign outside of the Kosciusko County Coronor’s office.
This time last year, 15 residents had died in the county from overdose deaths and the year-long total eventually exceeded 20.
Tammy Cotton, executive director for LITE Recovery, and Heidi Blake, who oversees Kosciusko Coalition on Drug Education (K-CODE), both said they think a multi-pronged effort by different groups is helping slow the deadly trend that has been fueled to a great degree by fentanyl.
Local officials supporting drug recovery efforts recently launched a
that offers support for inmates preparing to re-enter society. It’s a broad initiative that includes a focus on drug recovery and relies heavily on area organizations such as LITE, Bowen Center and Fellowship Missions.”
“Awareness, educating people, letting people know we’re here for them. There is support. There are resources,” Cotton said. “I think it’s helped make a huge difference.”
But there are other efforts under foot.
Cotton lined up a grant through the Indiana Department of Health to establish a program that brings together various groups including the coroner, law enforcement and others to look at the underlying circumstances for individual overdose and suicide deaths.
The group is known as SOFR — Suicide Overdose Fatality Review.
The program began in March and the group meets monthly.
“It was a little rough starting out because not everybody understood the concept,” Cotton said. “Law enforcement weren’t really sure why people like me were sitting in the room talking about … It’s intense — we’re drilling down and figuring out what happened to this person. Why did they end their life this way?”
Officials see some overlap in overdose deaths and suicide.
“A lot of times, an overdose is a suicide,” Cotton said. “A lot of times. More times than you would think.”
Another program, Handle With Care, is being shepherded by Blake. It seeks to keep schools informed (with a limited amount of information) about students who have recently been subjected to traumatic events involving loved ones involving overdose deaths or suicide. The move is intended to keep schools ready so they can assist if those students begin to show signs that they are struggling.
Another program is called CRAFT — Community Reinforcement and Family Therapy — which will offer a twelve-week session for family members who have family members struggling with substance abuse.
“I’m proud that in just a short amount of time, we’ve got two programs that are launching,” Cotton said.
Friday’s event was a chance for family and friends of those who have died from overdoses to honor their loved ones and commiserate with others in the same situation.
While balloon launches seem to have fallen out of favor, families on Friday used placards accompanied with personal messages that were then planted into the ground in a concentrated area in the park. Those messages were then collected and will be relocated elsewhere to keep the issue at the forefront.
Some of those attending recalled three deaths in 2023 that happened in a span of three months. The victims were not directly connected, but all happened to have funerals at the same funeral home. Those included Shawn Collins, 35, Derrick Gasaway, 31 and Caleb Jenkins, 26.
Family members of Collins showed up Friday in unison wearing commemorative shirts.
Collins had been released from jail four days earlier when he collapsed at home with two children present. He died about two weeks later in a Hospice facility.
Tiffany Marroquin, who had two children with Collins and was engaged to him at the time, talked about the impact his death has had on her family.
“Anybody in recovery, keep it up,” Marroquin said. “It’s not worth it. Seeing my kids — what we go through every day — it’s been 18 months and it’s hell every day. My kids still suffer. I have a four-year-old who asks me every day, ‘Mommy, where’s my daddy?’ “
Shanna Wallen, whose family has been hard-hit by substance abuse, now works as the resource navigator in the county jail’s new community resource program.
She was pleased with the turnout on Friday.
“It’s awesome to see this many people wanting to support their loved ones that have lost somebody,” Wallen said.
The event was also a source for free Narcan. At least 17 samples were distributed Friday night.
