Awareness day puts focus on overdose issue

WILSON — Community members and area agencies gathered for Wilson County International Overdose Awareness Day on Monday, Aug. 31, to acknowledge those who have lost their lives due to overdose and to hear ways that people dealing with substance misuse issues can find support that leads to recovery.

The event was held at the Wilson County Public Library.

“On behalf of the Opioid Multi Disciplinary Team, I want to say thank you, and we appreciate you being here. This is our eighth year hosting this event,” said Lori Walston, communications manager with Wilson County Department of Social Services. “We originally started here at the library and felt like this would be a great place to come back. This is a very important day as we remember those we have lost to overdose, but also that we celebrate those in recovery and that we continue to share the message that recovery is possible with our community.”

The centerpiece of the event was a grouping of luminaries arranged in the shape of a heart with the names of Wilson County residents who lost their lives due to overdose.

Alicia Winstead Melvin, founder and president of Moms on a Mission, said her group was established four years ago after a number of Wilson mothers were dealing with the loss of their sons due to overdose.

The nonprofit connects families to resources and helps them find the help they need.

“We saw it as a gap and a way to close that gap. We knew the resources were here, but not how to get the people connected to it, especially people in those underserved populations, so we really organized to that we would close that gap,” Melvin said.

Earl Reaves, executive director of the Flynn Christian Fellowship Home in Wilson, said Monday’s event is about awareness. “If we didn’t have community leaders and community organizations like this out here tonight, nobody would know about this stuff,” Reaves said. “It is very vital that we have these things more often than what we have. You see people that don’t have any idea what’s going on until they come to one of these events and start asking questions.”

Ashley Spencer, clinical affairs officer with Wilson County Emergency Medical Services, told the 75 attendees that Wilson County EMS is a partner in the Post-Overdose Response Team program.

“Through this partnership, our goal is not only to respond to an overdose emergency but to create an opportunity for support, connection and recovery after the emergency has passed,” Spencer said. “When our EMS providers respond to an overdose following treatment, the patient is provided with a PORT box. This box contains several important resources including Narcan, a medication reversal kit, a sharps shuttle and information about community resources that may be available to them.”

Melissa Haynes of the Wilson County Health Department oversees a syringe services program.

“That is what we consider a harm reduction program here in Wilson County. So you have prevention, treatment, recovery and then harm reduction,” Haynes said. “Harm reduction is just simply meeting people where they are and supporting them there and helping them get to treatment and recovery services or other services that they need.”

Lori Winstead, deputy county manager for Wilson County, said the county will be receiving $7.5 million over the next 18 years as part of the opioid settlement.

“With our settlement funds, we expand local addiction treatment, harm reduction and provide prevention services to the community,” Winstead said.

The plan distributes funds that are focused on targeted community efforts, she said, naloxone distribution, addiction treatment and recovery support, early education, community collaboration.

Anna Godwin, executive director of the Wilson County Substance Prevention Coalition, said the mission of the coalition “is to bring together community partners to collaboratively address substance misuse prevention, treatment access, risk reduction and recovery support in our community.

Hope Alliance is proof that treatment is effective, she said.

“Hope Alliance, housed with the Wilson Police Department, brings together community partners to reduce the barriers that may keep someone from seeking treatment,” Godwin said. “We offer transportation assistance, and when funding permits, we are able to help cover the cost of treatment and associated out-of-pocket expenses. From detox to treatment, we work to make the transitions to and from treatment as easy as possible.”

Godwin said that 61 people have been able to access treatment through Hope Alliance since August 2025.