Georgia R. Krein, Burlington

I work with opiate abuse disorder clients. The number of fatal and non-fatal opiate overdoses in Minot and the surrounding area is phenomenal. There are many organizations working on opiate awareness, yet I feel overdoses are minimized or ignored in the news.

I appreciate reading an obituary where the family has identified the lost loved one as having an opiate disorder. This keeps the problem real to those reading the obituary and makes overdose fatalities known. This happens more than anyone can imagine.

Recently I visited Rochester Minnesota, and the evening news had an overdose segment. It is a short daily segment with the number of overdose deaths and the age of overdose survivors as well as the number of Narcan needed to revive the overdose victim. This is a reality check for anyone watching the news. I thought it was empowering to overdose awareness in the community. Keeps it real. I personally would like to see this done in our community. Think of the lives this short segment could save.