‘You’re simply not alone’: Vigil honors those lost to overdose

EVERETT – As the sun set Tuesday night, Snohomish County residents lined up to light candles for loved ones who had died of an overdose.

After looking at the crowd on the county government campus, Cathi Lee felt at odds.

While it was great to have a larger than usual crowd at the annual awareness event that she co-founded, Lee said it was also a premonition.

“I wish that someday nobody’s here, that we don’t even have to talk about it,” said Lee, whose son Corey died in 2015 of an overdose.

There were 230 drug-related deaths in the county last year, according to the Snohomish Health District. Just a few years ago it was only half. The youngest victim in 2020 was a 17-year-old from Everett. More than half of these deaths were due to synthetic opioids such as fentanyl.

And as of Monday there were 109 deaths this year.

“There isn’t really a family in Snohomish County or the region that is not affected by addiction,” said Dave Somers, district chairman.

In the first three months of this year, Washington had 418 overdose deaths, according to the Department of Health, up from 378 in the same period in 2020. Almost half of those were fentanyl related. Overdoses are increasing in all ages, races and socioeconomic backgrounds, but the increases were most pronounced in people of color, according to the Department of Health.

Austin Nix and Madison Nix take comfort in the Snohomish County Campus Plaza in Everett on Tuesday afternoon. (Kevin Clark / The Herald)

Dr. Chris Spitters, health officer for the Snohomish Health District, said the surge in fentanyl overdoses should “frighten us all”.

Becky Matter, who works at Evergreen Recovery Centers, has been in the field for two decades. She said she had never seen so many overdoses before. With a cousin who has had addiction since she was 12, Matter said the problem was personal to her.

Naloxone, a nasal spray used to treat overdoses, was used 805 times by first responders in the past year, according to the health district. That was 682 cases in 2019.

This year, 289 overdose visits were made in the emergency rooms at Providence Regional Medical Center Everett and Edmonds, Sweden, according to the health district. In 2020 there were almost 550.

Providence sees 1,300 to 1,400 patients struggling with substance abuse or mental illness each month, the hospital’s behavioral health director Laura Knapp said Tuesday. The hospital’s convalescent unit cared for more than 800 patients last year seeking acute withdrawal treatment. The Providence Behavioral Medicine Emergency Center, opened in 2019, has served over 3,400 people.

“I’m sharing these numbers with you just to send a message, and that message is that when you or your loved ones are struggling with an addiction or a mental health need, you just aren’t alone,” Knapp told the crowd on Tuesday.

“A Night to Remember, a Night to Action” Tuesday afternoon at the Snohomish County Campus Plaza in Everett. (Kevin Clark / The Herald)

Last month Providence opened a 24-bed behavioral medicine treatment facility. The Denney Juvenile Justice Center, a 32-bed room in Everett for adults dealing with addiction and mental health issues, began caring for patients in August.

Camiya Bond attended the event in honor of their children’s father, Shawn. His picture was on one of several boards, with dozens of others next to the candles.

Shawn Bond, who experienced homelessness and was addicted to meth, had been missing for nearly three years when his remains were found on the Tulalip reservation in 2018. He was 37 years old.

Camiya Bond was addicted to alcohol, but seeing several people close to her die from her addiction kept her sober.

“I’ve lost way too many people to this disease,” she said.

Jake-Goldstein-Strasse: 425-339-3439; [email protected]. Twitter: @GoldsteinStreet.

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Austin Nix and Madison Nix take comfort in the Snohomish County Campus Plaza in Everett on Tuesday afternoon. (Kevin Clark / The Herald)

“A Night to Remember, a Night to Action” Tuesday afternoon at the Snohomish County Campus Plaza in Everett. (Kevin Clark / The Herald)