HENDERSON, Ky. (WEHT) – At Tuesday’s Henderson City Commission meeting, community addiction awareness coordinator Angie Gatton presented her findings on the latest overdose numbers.
Gatton says that between January and September of this year, Henderson has seen 54 overdoses, 14 of which resulted in death. She says that 60 percent of the overdoses were men, while 32 of the overdoses were people ages 26 to 45.
Gatton says that those numbers can’t be ignored, especially as we enter the holiday season. “This is why this information is so important to get out to everyone, because everybody knows somebody that’s addicted (or) in recovery and recovery is everybody’s responsibility; we have to support those people that are in recovery to help them stay on that path because addiction is a disease, and just because they have gone through a recovery process does not mean they’re going to stay recovered. So we really have to think about it as a disease and we have to attack it like a disease.”
Gatton also spoke with the Commission about the Stop the Overdose project, which educates people on how to spot the signs of an overdose and what to do if they encounter someone going through an overdose.
