EASTON, Pa. — Easton will play host to a pair of events raising awareness and paying respect to the plight of drug overdoses this Saturday.
Marking Overdose Awareness Day, Easton will start the day with a march from the free bridge to the riverside amphitheater where Mayor Sal Panto will recognize the efforts of the community in combating drug overdoses, followed by a special event in Centre Square where those impacted by the crisis will share their stories and offer resources for recovery.
Panto said the march will kick off at 11 a.m. on the Northampton Street Bridge (aka "the free bridge"), where officials from Phillipsburg will meet with Eastonians to march to the amphitheater to award parties in the area which have proved instrumental to combating drug overdoses, especially in light of the opioid crisis.
Officials will also discuss the roles of police and fire departments in that battle, and the methods being utilized to “keep these people on a straight path,” as the mayor put it.
At 7:30 p.m., Councilmember Frank Pintabone said a group of local clergy members, city officials, representatives from the Easton Police Department, and mothers who have lost their children to drug overdoses.
“We're going to offer any resource to our police department that we're able to in order to crack down on it. It's not something that we take lightly, and we're going to shed light on it, and we're going to sit with our residents who have suffered the loss of a child or a loved one due to the fentanyl epidemic.”Frank Pintabone
“I want to shed light on it; I want to help people understand it. And we want to put people on notice: if you're selling fentanyl, if you're selling drugs in our community, it's not going to be easy for you,” Pintabone said.
“We're going to offer any resource to our police department that we're able to in order to crack down on it. It's not something that we take lightly, and we're going to shed light on it, and we're going to sit with our residents who have suffered the loss of a child or a loved one due to the fentanyl epidemic.”
Part of the ceremony will include a vigil with 200 candles, Pintabone added. Attendees are encouraged to wear purple clothing in support of the cause.
According to Panto and Pintabone, Easton sees about 30 to 40 uses of Narcan — an emergency overdose treatment which police carry, and can also be purchased over the counter at pharmacies — per year, indicating the opioid issue persists even in smaller cities.
So far this year, 19 doses of Narcan have been administered in Easton, Pintabone said, though he hopes the rate will not increase in the months to come.
Panto added that addiction can often lead to loss of employment, and potentially crime, “and so all those issues that are quality of life issues become very much a city issue.”
Pintabone said the idea to address overdoses has “been something that’s been on my heart for a while,” and after discussing the concept with his sister who works in mental health, he knew he needed to bring more attention to the problem which affects so many.
“We have a reputation of being a rough, tough blue collar town. But in reality, we come together. I mean, we grew up together. Easton is only four square miles, 30,140 people. I mean, we all know each other,”Sal Panto Jr.
“We had a young girl I grew up with, a family and their daughter, their granddaughter, their niece, passed away a few months ago from it. I've known her since she was a kid. It's something that touches all of us, right? We're a small community, you know, 28,000, so we all know everybody. We all grew up together,” Pintabone said.
“We know the kids, the grandkids. And you want to do something, you feel like helpless when it happens, and you're grateful that it wasn't your child, but you still feel the pain for the other people, for their children. So it was something that I wanted to do to bring awareness and bring people together. I know these parents are struggling, and I don't want to see more parents go through it. So it was why I came to the mayor with the idea, and he signed on immediately, and here we are.”
Both Pintabone and Panto said they hope to engage the community to create strong connections to facilitate new and novel solutions to addiction and the dangers it can bring, and they hope these partnerships can lead to even more success.
“We have a reputation of being a rough, tough blue collar town. But in reality, we come together. I mean, we grew up together. Easton is only four square miles, 30,140 people. I mean, we all know each other,” Panto said.
