CLEVELAND — From the moment Melinda Gamez got that dreaded phone call on this day one year ago, her feeling of grief hasn’t faded.
“Nothing can ever prepare a parent for that phone call or that feeling,” said Gamez.
On November 9, 2021 Gamez’s 19-year-old son Miles overdosed on a drug laced with fentanyl, he remained on life support until he took his last brief four days later.
Every day since her son’s death, Gamez uses her grief to spread awareness.
“I think we all came very used to seeing numbers of deaths related to COVID and I feel that was important too, but deaths from overdoses are also very important,” said Gamez.
675 deadly drug overdoses were reported in Cuyahoga County last year according to the medical examiner, this year numbers show Cuyahoga County is on pace to lower the death toll to 650.
The Alcohol, Drug Addiction and Mental Health Services Board of Cuyahoga County aims for the death toll to be zero.
“We want people to have that chance to go into recovery,” said ADAHMS Board CEO Scott Osiecki.
Osiecki hopes $1.2 million dollars in state funding will do that.
In the next week, the board is rolling out five naloxone vending machines across Cleveland at the following locations:
- 12201 Euclid Avenue
- 5209 Detroit Avenue
- 4400 Euclid Avenue
- 13422 Kinsman Road
- 2500 Metrohealth Drive
The ADAHMS board is also working on putting more than 400 weather-resistant naloxone cabinets in public parks soon.
“It’s very needed like, I said the ADAMHS board doesn’t condone drug use but we want to make sure people are alive in order to get the help they need and it’s important for the community to know that mental illness and addictions are biological based brain diseases,” said Osiecki.
Osiecki wants to make sure these harm-reduction tools are easily accessible to everyone.
This grieving mother who lives not far from Lakewood Park hopes some boxes will be placed there too.
“If they were at parks or other popular areas and people could discretely at any time pick them up and if not for themselves, maybe for someone they know,” said Gamez.
Ohio Department of Health data shows nearly 5,100 Ohioans died of drug overdoses last year, meaning more than 5000 people got a tragic phone call, the same one Gamez received this same day a year ago.
Gamez is devoting her life to spreading the message about these life-saving measures so no other parent has to get the call she received.
“I know what I didn't know and I know what the young person who was with him didn't know and I really believe education and availability could prevent another parent or friend going through this,” said Gamez.
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