Overdose Awareness: Emily Krisitine Munoz
August 31st is International Overdose Awareness Day. This day aims to raise awareness of overdose and reduce the stigma of drug-related death. It also acknowledges the grief felt by families and friends, remembering those who have died or had a permanent injury due to a drug overdose.
We want to take time and hold space for those who have been impacted by the opioid epidemic, including TRI's Administrative Assistant, Karen Chatt, who recently lost her niece, Emily Kristine Munoz, to an accidental overdose.
From Karen:
Emily, age 17, had her whole life ahead of her. She had goals and ambitions. She had gotten her first job, working at McDonalds and she was taking extra classes to graduate early in her senior year. She had many friends and was an inspiration to many for her free spirit, a real wild flower in the vast sea of daisies. She was always ready to have fun and try new adventurous endeavors. Anyone who has ever met Emily will never forget the smile that she had. It was a smile which let you know that you could be yourself around her and that once you were her friend, you made it into her heart forever. Her smile, along with her dimples, would make anyone’s heart melt. She was a typical teenager who loved her friends, music, Dr. Pepper, chicken strips, and raspberries. Her mother, Valerie Koll, describes Emily as her busy bee when she was young, who grew up into a wild child.
In 2019 Emily was diagnosed as being bipolar. She had really high, highs and low, lows, but she took medication for it and only a few people outside her family knew. She saw a therapist and attended a group counseling class. Even with this challenge, Emily was liked by many, including teachers and parents of children whom she had befriended over the years.
Emily Kristine Munoz
A friend’s mother, who also worked at her school, commented that Emily always knew how to make people laugh even if it wasn’t appropriate to laugh at the things that she would say. It was just hard to keep a straight face when you were around her. She was a bright light and will be missed by many.
On the night of July 2, 2021, Emily took two Percocet pills that had been laced with Fentanyl. She was pronounced dead on July 3, 2021. Little did she know that this would be her last day on this earth. The police that arrived at the scene stated that this has been seen a lot in the high desert area of California recently. This is a growing killer of our young adults and is becoming a larger problem. Deaths from Fentanyl poisoning have risen in the United States, contributing to 90,000 American deaths during the 12-month period ending in September 2020 compared to the 70,000 in the same period a year earlier. As the CDC has updated its fatal overdose estimates during the pandemic the upward trend has shown no sign of slowing. Emily’s family and friends are on a mission to tell everyone about Fentanyl poisoning and that one pill can kill.
Please help us in our mission of bringing awareness, so that no more children have to needlessly die. Don’t let Emily’s death be in vain.
In 2020, the Trauma Resource Institute partnered with the Christopher Wolf Crusade (CWC), an organization in Atlanta, Georgia that provides preventative care, education, and advocacy for the American opioid epidemic. Their solutions, Life Care Specialists and Be Well, are designed and built from the Community Resiliency Model (CRM)®.
In 2018, the Christopher Wolf Crusade began developing a new position in healthcare called the Life Care Specialist (LCS). Life Care Specialists use the teachings of the Trauma Resource Institute's CRM skills to help patients who have been through physical and emotional trauma. Life Care Specialists work alongside healthcare teams and provide pain management strategies as well as information and resources that educate patients about the dangers of extended opioid use. Be Well teaches CRM skills to different communities with added opioid education to improve resilience, personal growth, and well-being.
CLICK HERE for more information