Pleading for help
By Rochelle Moore
Published in News on November 8, 2017 5:50 AM
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News-Argus/CASEY MOZINGO
Sharon Person holds a plaque with a picture of her granddaughter Destinee Clayton as she speaks at a community meeting held Tuesday at the Wayne County Courthouse about the opioid problem in Wayne County. Clayton died of a heroin overdose in 2016 at the age of 20.
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News-Argus/CASEY MOZINGO
Gloria Hurley speaks during a meeting she and her family organized to address the opioid problem in Wayne County. She found her son Rance dead from a heroin overdose in her home earlier this year.
They brought photographs of loved ones, shared stories of addiction, of loss and recovery.
One mother keeps in contact with her daughter who almost entered an outpatient drug treatment program but relapsed.
Another told how her son left Wayne County to enter long-term recovery in Florida.
And another mother shared how her adult son, filled with dreams for a better life, died in late September from a drug overdose.
The losses add to the increasing realization that the national opioid crisis is claiming lives in Wayne County. Family members who have lost loved ones and others struggling to save lives met with area leaders Tuesday and asked for resources, programs and help.
"My child never got exposed to drugs until he landed here," said Billie Blizzard, who moved to Wayne County after the death of her husband. Her son, Stephen, struggled with the loss of his father and slipped into depression.
Her son wasn't able to find the help he needed before his death in 2016.
"He died a week later, after leaving rehab," she said. "There's no one to help anyone in Wayne County. My son wanted help. He just couldn't find any."
Lisa Hurtado, who recently lost her brother to a drug overdose, also has a daughter in a drug rehabilitation program.
"There are communities that have drug courts, programs and they are working," she said. "We have nothing here.
"How long are we going to keep doing the same thing over and over and over before we realize it's not working? Locking them up is not working."
Her mother, Gloria Hurley, asked for changes, including the start of a drug court, affordable drug programs, longer-term recovery programs and no bond reductions for drug dealers.
"Losing a child is the most horrific thing in the world," she said. "I'm sure that there are many families in Wayne County that are battling drug use with their loved ones. I don't want to see anyone else suffer as I have suffered. We need help, and we need it now.
"If we can build and house rapists and murderers and feed them, then we can build clinics."
Hurley said the opioid crisis needs to be addressed now.
"It's time for us to step up as a community, and we've got to stop this now because we're going to certainly bury more people," she said. "It's going to happen. They're falling dead like flies."
Several people at the meeting shared an interest in starting a program similar to the Hope Initiative in Nashville. The program, which started within the Nashville Police Department in 2016, allows anyone to enter the police department, turn over any drugs or paraphernalia and not face any criminal charges. The program allows people to ask for help and they are sent directly to a treatment program.
The program's success has gained national attention. In its first year, only 13 of 112 people who sought help have returned to using drugs.
"Please help us so that we can save more lives," said Melodie Martin, an advocate for people living with addiction.
The Wayne County Health Director Davin Madden said a greater focus needs to be placed on helping people with behavior intervention strategies.
"What we're lacking the most is behavioral health intervention," Madden said.
The Tuesday meeting was organized by Gloria Hurley and her daughters, and supported by friends, supporters and others interested in change in the community.
At the meeting were Wayne County Sheriff Larry Pierce, Madden, Goldsboro Police Chief Mike West and Assistant to the City Manager Octavius Murphy. Representatives from the Department of Social Services and Salvation Army were also in attendance.
Dwight Williams, district director for U.S. Rep. David Rouzer, R-N.C., was at the meeting and said he would report the details of the meeting to the congressman.