BELVIDERE, Ill. (WTVO) — Purple populated prairie fields in Belvidere as the community came out to honor International Overdose Awareness Day with a walk on Saturday.
The event is part of the Boone County Health Department’s Community Outreach Advocacy and Recovery Program. Manager Adam Hartzell said drug overdose is one of their largest priorities.
“It’s just to really show the impact that this epidemic has had. People think that, oh, because we’re a smaller county, a smaller community, but it impacts us,” said Hartzell. “At one point, Boone County had higher overdose rates than the average of the state of Illinois.”
The latest data from the National Center for Health Statistics shows a decrease in nationwide overdose deaths for the first time since 2018. Drugs like fentanyl have contributed to an increase in opioid deaths in Illinois and is the reason Rockford Chris Shorter Joined the walk.
“I lost a son a little over a year ago to a drug overdose with fentanyl,” said Shorter. “He got hooked on OxyContin and things just got out of hand from there and turned to heroin. He was an addict for quite a while and it finally got him.”