Rexburg organizations host community event to tackle opioid crisis and break addiction stigma
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REXBURG – Opioid overdoses claimed the lives of 264 Idahoans in 2023 alone, the most recent year reported by Idaho Health and Welfare. A large majority of those deaths were due to overdoses of fentanyl, a synthetic opioid often added to illicit drugs to make them more addictive. According to the U.S. Drug Enforcement Administration, fentanyl is 50 times more potent than heroin.
The Center for Hope has partnered with MadisonHealth in Rexburg to provide information and resources meant to save and improve lives. Together, they will host A Community Conversation on Addiction and Recovery, an event intended to bring the community together to battle the stigma of addiction and connect those affected by it with potentially life-saving help. The event will be held this Wednesday, June 25, from 7 p.m. to 9 p.m. at Madison Memorial Hospital at 450 E. Main Street in Rexburg. There is no charge to attend, and all are invited.
“One of the challenges in Madison County is that we’re just not used to talking about (addiction),” says Andra Hansen, who represents The Center for Hope. “There’s a lot of hesitancy to acknowledge those kinds of challenges. People desire to be helpful, but lack the awareness of how best to do that.”
Breanna Latouche volunteers with On the Ground, an organization that helps promote local non-profits. Latouche is helping to spread the word about the event and The Center for Hope.
“They’re an advocacy group, a non-profit group, that helps those struggling through addiction and recovery, and they have a lot of services to help individuals, especially those who have been incarcerated, get back into society,” Latouche says. “This event is mostly about seeing different perspectives of addiction and recovery.”
Wednesday’s community conversation will include presentations by community members who have battled substance abuse, and other advocates who provide resources to anyone affected by addiction, including family and friends of those battling substance abuse. Hansen and Latouche also extend the invitation to anyone in the community who wants to be part of the solution, including educators and ecclesiastical leaders, and note that the resources are useful for fighting any kind of addiction.
“We want to chip away at the silence and the uncertainty,” Hansen says. “This is something we can talk about and do something about.”
For more information on The Center for Hope or how to be involved, visit their website.
