Loved ones of victims promote awareness of fentanyl dangers

Last Sunday our Executive Director, Alicia House, attended and tabled at a fentanyl awareness event at Erlandson Park in Mankato. Sunday’s event was part of the first ever National Fentanyl Prevention and Awareness Day. Mankato newspaper, The Free Press, highlights how the community came together to honor those lost and raise awareness of the dangers of fentanyl.

Hugo woman, Amy Galatovich, whose 15-year-old daughter Madisyn Warner died from fentanyl poisoning in November 2020 said “This is the first time I’ve been able to come to something like this since [Madisyn] died. I’ve met others here. It helps. It makes me remember the things I blocked out of my mind. It shows all of the joy kids brought to their families before they lost them.”

Nancy Sack, whose grandson Travis Grustavson died of fentanyl poisoning in Mankato last year, noted that there needs to be an uptick in education and awareness by the public and lawmakers. Sack says, “Whatever is being done now isn’t enough. The more we delay, the more who will die. We need to get to kids early, in the First and Second grades, and teach them about the dangers of this.”

House and the Steve Rummler HOPE Network was highlighted for our community trainer program and fentanyl awareness education. House says, “We purchased 100,000 [fentanyl test] strips and have distributed a lot of them.” House says that public awareness of fentanyl is relatively new but progress is being made on letting people know about why it is such a widespread threat.

Read the full article here.

The Steve Rummler HOPE Network recently released an instructional video on how to use Fentanyl Test Strips, to watch it and learn more click here.