Fentanyl presentation to bring awareness to Hays County

HAYS COUNTY — The fentanyl crisis has hit far too close to home.

Since the summer of 2022, Hays CISD has experienced six student deaths related to fentanyl overdoses and poisonings. But it’s not just a local issue — more than 100,000 people in the U.S. died of drug overdoses and poisonings in the 12-month period ending in January 2023, according to the CDC, and 67% of those involved synthetic opioids like fentanyl.

To raise more awareness about fentanyl and substance use disorders, UTHealth Houston and Texas Integrated Community Opioid Network (Texas ICON) — which partners with communities across Texas to develop programs to address substance use in their city — are partnering with the Forever 15 Project for a presentation that will be held from 1:30-3:30 p.m. on Wednesday, Aug. 16 at the Kyle Public Library.

The Forever 15 Project was started by Janel Rodriguez and Brandon Dunn, who lost their son Noah, a sophomore at Johnson High School, to fentanyl poisoning on Aug. 21, 2022.

“We do not want any other parent, family member or friend to experience what we have,” the organization's website states. “Because of this tragedy, we started the Forever 15 Project to spread awareness and to provide resources for those who are at risk or who know someone at risk and to honor those who have been lost.”

Jessi Hierholzer, the community liaison in San Marcos for UTHealth Houston, said that fentanyl has made a big impact in communities across the state, including Hays County.

“I think it's important for everyone to step forward and to put in their efforts into helping protect our community, our people and do what's best for San Marcos and Hays County,” she said.

The presentation will be focused on education and collaboration with other stakeholders in the community to continue fighting the fentanyl crisis.

“We can all work together to make better resources for people who struggle with substance use disorder … There has been some movement, but we would like to see more movement as well. It’s kind of just an educating, coming together, collaborating event. And then from there, we can move forward,” Hierholzer said. “If someone in the community is like, ‘Hey, I saw this, I want to work on this, too. We want to get connected with this as well. We want to provide resources. We're trying to get our name out there. Can you put our name? Can you help people get connected with our sober living communities [and] organization?’ Then, I can connect people who contact me struggling with substance use disorder, I can refer them to those places.”

Members in the community — in all parts of the county — are welcome to attend the event in-person on Aug. 16 at the Kyle Public Library, located at 550 Scott St., Kyle, Texas 78640, or virtually on Zoom at go.uth.edu/txicon_hays. For more information, contact Hierholzer at [email protected] or 512-627-1024.

If you or someone you know needs help with recovering from substance use, Texas ICON is available 24/7 by calling 833-367-4689.