Opioid overdose deaths, Milwaukee resource strives to 'instill hope'
MILWAUKEE - In Milwaukee County, at least 17 people died of suspected opioid overdoses over the course of about three days – setting the kind record you never want to reach.
"We say all the time that this is a deadly disease, but it really hit home this week," said Amy Molinski, Community Medical Services peer support specialist.
Even once it ends a life, addiction doesn't stop there.
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"It’s a ripple effect, and it spreads to their families and communities," Molinski said.
"To lose 17 human beings over, just since Saturday, would be considered a mass casualty event if it wasn't associated with drug addiction," Milwaukee Ald. Michael Murphy said Tuesday.
An urgent news conference Tuesday sounded the alarms about the 17 fatal opioid overdoses that the county saw in a span of three days.
"We usually see one to two deaths per day, but in the last three days, we've seen six overdose deaths each and every day," Dr. Ben Weston, the county's chief health policy advisor, said Tuesday.
Molinski said there is no way to quantify that pain.
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"It’s not just a record," she said. "There’s 17 families that won’t have one of their family members for Easter this year, that were planning funerals instead of Easter dinner."
What you can count is how many years Molinski has been clean: 13. Working as a peer support specialist, she is also part of the Milwaukee Overdose Response Initiative (MORI), which started in 2019.
Molinski knocks on the doors of people who overdosed and survived, offering ways to a new life – within about two days from when they came close to death.
Community Medical Services
"I want to instill hope," said Molinski.
Molinksi said all the overdoses this week do not change her work, but they do reignite her passion for helping people – like one man who had been a user for 40 years.
"He didn’t know there was help for him. He told us that many times – he didn’t know there were people who cared about people like him," she said. "He celebrated three years clean in February of this year, and we couldn’t be more proud."
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Milwaukee County overdose deaths; possible 'bad batch,' officials say
The Milwaukee Fire Department reported on Tuesday, April 4 that Milwaukee County has seen 17 overdose deaths since Saturday, April 1.
Just as addiction ripples out, so, too, does hope.
"I don’t know how far that extends their life. But I know that in that moment, they feel loved, and they feel cared about – and that’s really all that matters," said Molinski.
As part of MORI, Molinski said she also reaches out to friends and family of those who overdoses and didn't make it.
If you are someone you know is in need of help, Milwaukee County Health & Human Services has resources available online.