Pennsylvania has been one of the states hit hardest by the national opioid epidemic. According to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, Pennsylvania has the fourth-highest rate of overdose fatalities in the United States. Earlier this year, Gov. Tom Wolf declared a statewide emergency concerning the use of opioids.

Wayne County officials have taken several measures in an attempt to combat the epidemic at a local level. However, a citizen-run coalition called the Wayne County Heroin Prevention Task Force has also risen to the challenge. The task force, now four years old, is made up of volunteers who have been somehow affected by this national crisis and are passionate about creating awareness and providing paths to recovery.

This passion is clearly evident in the task force’s president, Suzie Calkin Frisch, who says that the epidemic is a highly multifaceted issue. “It touches everything,” said Frisch, naming schools, hospitals, law enforcement and parenting as just some of the entities affected by heroin addiction.

Frisch is also adamant about the fact that opioid addictions do not discriminate. “Blue collar, white collar, or no collar, all have been touched by this addiction,” she said.

Learning about addiction the hard way

Drew Rusich, a board member of the task force, had to learn the hardest way possible that this addiction can reach anybody. Like 85% of addicts, Rusich was introduced to opioids via a medical prescription. Rusich was prescribed Percocet at age 18 following a back injury. Once this prescription ran out, he resorted to buying Percocet on the street. Rusich then turned to heroin, a cheaper and more readily available alternative to Percocet. This is the standard chain of events for opioid-addictions.

Rusich was in and out of rehab nine times, and in trouble with the law several times without ever successfully overcoming his drug-habit. “I tried everything. Nothing was enough,” he said.

The turning point for Rusich came at age 25, when he overdosed in his bathroom, and was revived by a family member using a sternal rub—a pain stimulus technique involving grinding one’s knuckles into the victim’s sternum.

Just hours after the episode, Rusich used heroin again.

Rusich said it was not until the following day that he had a sobering epiphany—one that filled him with shame and guilt. “When you walk past a mirror, it’s human nature to look at yourself. Well, I literally could not look myself in the mirror,” said Rusich.

Sobering up

Fortunately, he was able to channel these feelings into a resolve to fully commit to recovery. Rusich, 28, is sober today, working as a drug and alcohol counselor for Pennsylvania Treatment and Healing (PATH).

The task force’s goal is to create as many success stories like Rusich’s as possible. Reversing the many stigmas that exist against opioid-addicts is one of their prime strategies to that end. This, in part, means informing the public that heroin addiction occurs “not just in the projects, but everywhere,” as Frisch says. It also means creating a welcoming environment to those seeking help. “We understand. There’s nothing you can tell us that we haven’t been through… There’s no embarrassment, there’s no judgment,” Frisch said.

Education is another important component of the task force’s approach. One of their most regularly utilized informative tools is the “drug board.” The board displays many household items that could possibly alert family members or friends about a loved one’s addiction. These everyday objects include disassembled pens, tin foil, multiple cell phones or “burner phones” an excessive amount of cotton balls or Q-tips.

Law enforcement is another inevitable dimension of the epidemic. The debate as to whether punitive or rehabilitative approaches are more successful is a divisive one. On this topic, Frisch says she has evolved. Frisch believes in accountability, but also that punishment alone cannot solve this problem. “You can’t arrest your way out of it,” said Frisch.

One of the task force’s successes so far has been providing the community with Narcan—a medication that can save someone experiencing an overdose—along with kits and training about how to administer the antidote, all for free. Some states provide this kind of kit and training for no charge; Pennsylvania does not. “We can’t wait for Pennsylvania to catch up,” said Frisch.

Since distributing the Narcan kits and providing training, at least five people have been saved from an overdose-related death. There are possibly more incidents that have gone unreported.

For those already suffering from an opioid addiction, Frisch and Rusich agree that, ultimately, their chances for overcoming the addiction rests on their will to beat it. “Rehab isn’t effective unless the person wants it,” said Rusich.

Frisch says that passion is what drives the task force’s volunteers, but it can also be what makes all the difference for those suffering from the addiction. At his last stay in a rehabilitative facility, a counselor told Rusich that all the knowledge he had accumulated about this addiction and recovery had to move from his head to his heart. Understanding this shift from knowledge to passion was a pivotal moment in Rusich’s journey.

As he put it, “Everything about using is a lie. I’ve learned how beautiful life is being sober as opposed to living inside the foggy haze of heroin.”