Parents give naloxone to Tamaqua police
Tammy Sienkiewicz, second from right, of Tamaqua, stands with Tamaqua police officers Cory Herring, left, and Cpl. Michael Hobbs, and Mayor Nathan Gerace, during a program observing International Overdose Awareness Day on Saturday in Tamaqua. Sienkiewicz helped form the group Safer Streets for Tamaqua’s Little Feet, which donated 40 units of the lifesaving drug naloxone, which helps to revive drug overdose victims, to the Tamaqua Police Department. RON GOWER/SPECIAL TO THE TIMES NEWS
During a program for International Overdose Awareness Day held in Tamaqua on Saturday, Tammy Kline of Lansford reads a poem in memory of her daughter, Christine Erbe, who died at age 21 on Jan. 15, 2016, from an opioid overdose.
International Overdose Awareness Day is a day Tammy Sienkiewicz of Tamaqua takes very seriously.
That’s because her daughter, Alexandria, died from an overdose three years ago at the age of 23 — a death that she feels might have been prevented.
Sienkiewicz is an organizer of the group “Safer Streets for Tamaqua’s Little Feet.”
On Saturday, in Tamaqua’s Depot Square in front of the John Morgan Fountain, Safer Streets for Tamaqua’s Little Feet donated 40 units of the lifesaving medicine naloxone to the Tamaqua Police Department.
The fountain had purple lights temporarily installed to commemorate International Overdose Awareness Day.
She said, “International Overdose Awareness Day and Safer Streets for Tamaqua’s Little Feet are spreading the message that the tragedy of overdose death is preventable.”
Tamaqua Ambulance began carrying nalaxone after Alexandria's death.
By making the donation to the police, Sienkiewicz said she hopes nobody ever again has to endure what she said were “the longest 10 minutes of our lives.”
Those 10 minutes occurred on April 2, 2016, when she found Alexandria unresponsive in a bedroom. She said Tamaqua Ambulance arrived and she asked if they carried naloxone. They said “no.” Tamaqua Police then arrived and she asked if they had naloxone. Again the answer was negative, and that they would have to wait for Lehighton Ambulance.
She said it was 10 minutes later that Lehighton Ambulance arrived with naloxone.
“Today, no parents will have to wait,” she said.
She said her daughter’s addiction began with painkillers that she had been prescribed for a sports injury.
“We don’t have to have deaths from drug overdose,” she said. “It’s preventable.”
Mayor Nathan Gerace of Tamaqua welcomed the donations, saying, “This is just a great example of how we’re trying to make our streets safer,” he said. “This will let overdose victims know they have a second chance.”
The boxes of naloxone were donated to the Safer Streets group by the manufacturer, Sienkiewicz said. Sienkiewicz said International Overdose Awareness Day “also acknowledges the grief felt by families and friends remembering those who have died or had a permanent injury as a result of drug overdose.”
She said, “Safer Streets is proud to partner with the Tamaqua Police Department, St. Luke’s and Mayor Nathan Gerace to bring life saving naloxone to the community.
About two dozen people were in attendance for the presentation.
Among them was Diane Morresi of Freeland, whose son, Ryan Morresi, died at the age of 32 on Sept. 20, 2016. She said she heard that about the Tamaqua event and wanted to attend because of her son.
Diane said her son got hooked on painkillers after he lost his leg in a work accident involving a forklift. She said he had been on the medicine Percocet, but began taking heroin after his doctor no longer prescribed the pain killer.
She said she and her daughter found him in a bedroom three days before his birthday.
“I think of him every solitary day,” she said.
She said he had overdosed twice previously and naloxone had saved his life. The third time they found him too late.
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