Editor’s note: The Opioid Memorial Wall will not be visiting the Durango Public Library on Monday because of snow storms on the Front Range.
The display was planned to raise awareness about the number of people who have died from opioid and heroine overdoses. The wall’s visit may be rescheduled for the spring.
A 34-foot-long wall that displays 4,200 pill bottles will be on display Monday at the Durango Public Library – a traveling memorial to honor those who have died by heroin and prescription opioid overdoses.
The Opioid Memorial Wall is part of a statewide campaign called Lift the Label aimed at encouraging addicts to seek treatment. The 4,200 pill bottles represent one bottle for every 10 Americans who died by overdoses in 2016. The prevention effort is aimed at educating communities in the state about the worsening opioid epidemic.
“It brings home the magnitude of the loss,” said Mary Dengler-Frey, the regional health connector for the Southwest Colorado Area Health Education Center.
Speakers who have recovered from opioid addiction will share their stories during the event.
The number of people who have died by an opioid overdose rose from about 42,000 in 2016 to 49,000 in 2017, according to the National Institute on Drug Use.
In Colorado, 504 people died from opioid overdose in 2016, and last year, it rose to 560 people, according to the Colorado Health Institute.
The event will feature a free training in nalaxone, also known as Narcan, which can be used to reverse an opioid overdose.
Narcan is inexpensive and requires minimal training to use. If someone does overdose on opioids, it is likely the first person to find them will be a loved one or a friend, so it is important that as many people as possible are trained to use the medication, Dengler-Frey said.
“It would be great if everybody had Narcan in their first-aid kits,” she said.
Durango Police Department officers began carrying Narcan last year and have administered it at least six times.
The wall is an interactive exhibit, and attendees are welcome to write a message on the wall in remembrance of someone who has struggled with or died as a result of addiction.
mshinn@durangoherald.com
If you go
The Opioid Memorial Wall will be on display from 10 a.m. to 6 p.m. Monday at the Durango Public Library, 1900 East Third Ave., in the meeting rooms.
A free naloxone training will be given at noon. Naloxone, also known as Narcan, is used to rapidly reverse an opioid overdose.
