‘Unfinished Legacies’: Mayor Lucas launches anti-fentanyl campaign
KANSAS CITY, Mo. (KCTV) - The public education campaign, “Unfinished Legacies,” is underway. It aims to share family and friends’ personal stories and experiences related to the fentanyl crisis.
The goal is to help spread more information about who their loved one was, leaning into storytelling and technology to connect with Kansas City youth by way of fostering awareness and support for prevention efforts.
Juanita Coburn’s son, Jordan, passed away from fentanyl poisoning in March of 2019. She shared that she received a call from Jordan’s girlfriend that he was cold and unresponsive. His three-year-old son found him on the kitchen floor. She said Jordan’s girlfriend was pregnant with their second child at the time.
“The last time I saw my son alive was on March 2. He told me what he was going to name his son,” she said.
They were met by police with their child under a white sheet when they arrived at his home that day. She has opened up about the tragedy, hoping to help others dealing with these circumstances.
“I’m from Cleveland, Ohio, my family didn’t even know. I told them it was natural causes because that’s what I thought,” she said.” It’s been a relief for me because now I’m speaking and I’m mad and want to help other families.”
Overdose deaths in Kansas City continue surpassing record-breaking homicide deaths. There was only one day without a suspected overdose in city emergency rooms in 2022, according to the city’s data. Between 2017 and 2021, Kansas City saw a nearly 1,000% increase in synthetic opioid deaths.
Mayor Quinton Lucas announced late last year a dangers of fentanyl campaign in partnership with the support of advertising agency, Barkley OKRP to educate Kansas Citians about the risks associated with taking counterfeit drugs that may be laced with fentanyl and to prevent overdose deaths in Kansas City.
“It’s called, ‘Unfinished Legacies,’ because these victims aren’t defined by their fentanyl-related overdose. Fentanyl does not have to be the end of their story,” said Communications Director Vice President at Barkley OKRP Mariah Haberman. “We want to honor their personal stories and experiences with the hope of preventing a similar tragedy happening to someone else.”
Appointments to the new Overdose Review Board are official now, too. The board will meet regularly to review overdoses and provide real-time recommendations to the city on how to combat this epidemic:
- Dr. Alex Francisco, Kansas City Health Department Chief Science Officer
- Dr. Douglas Burgess, University Health Behavioral Health Recovery Health Services
- Gregory Parr, Executive Director, Neighbor2Neighbor Program
- Trey Conklin, Trial Team Leader, General Crimes Unit, Jackson County Prosecutor’s Office
- Dr. Uttam Garg, Director of Clinical Chemistry, Toxicology, and Biochemical Genetic Laboratories, Children’s Mercy Hospital
- Emily Hage, CEO and President, First Call
- Shannon Roberts, Senior Program Manager, University of Missouri-Kansas City’s Collaborative to Advance Health Services
- Dr. Lindsey Haldiman, Jackson County Chief Medical Examiner
- Major James Buck, Special Investigations Division, Kansas City Police Department
“There’s not one message that can work,” said Mayor Lucas. “We can’t just say, ‘We’re going to put all in jail,’ or ‘Everyone’s going to get counseling.’ It is something that impacts some people, some are dealing with addiction, some people frankly run into an unfortunate and incredibly unlucky fatal incident.”
Lucas said one of the things he learned from the Covid-19 pandemic to help this initiative is a reason why they think this can improve those statistics and save lives -- tracing things back to the start.
“The more we were able to communicate, the more we were able to say, ‘Hey, share, make sure you’re letting us know where you were exposed. Save another life.’ That’s the sort of things and the reason why we’re working together on this today,” he said.
The website for Kansas Citians to submit their stories is live right now for families and friends to open up about their experiences.
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Mayor Quinton Lucas hosts fentanyl summit to address growing overdose problem
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