BILLINGS — RiverStone Health is raising alarms after a concerning spike in overdose cases in Yellowstone County. Over just three days, six overdoses were reported, a notable increase from the typical average of two to three per week.
This alarming trend is personal for one Billings woman, Dawn Carter, who is now making the most of her second chance at life after surviving an overdose.
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Carter's journey has been one of overcoming severe addiction, which began with prescription pain pills she would take from her mother who had cancer. Three years into pill seeking, she transitioned to heroin.
“At that time, the biggest priority was just getting high with whatever was in front of me,” she said on Wednesday. "Was refilling prescriptions of my mom's that weren't even my own and then it went to just hardcore pill-seeking constantly."
For years, Carter was trapped in the cycle of addiction, often living from hotel to hotel and resorting to theft to support her habit.
“Every day that you use heroin, your likelihood of dying from an overdose goes up,” she explained.
Carter said addicts were aware of Naloxone, or Narcan, which is a medication that can reverse an opioid overdose. In 2021, the Narcan is what Carter credits as saving her life when she overdosed.
"I had received some Narcan from somewhere and I happened to have some in my car. I got some drugs from someone that I sort of knew, kind of knew," Carter said. "I woke up and I realized that I had overdosed and that I had been Narcan'd. Thankfully the people that were with me were responsible enough that they grabbed that Narcan and gave it to me. I did not remember anything before that at all."
That was a turning point in her life.
"I just remember coming back and, um, I I realized what happened and I immediately just burst into tears," Carter said. "I just walked in Rimrock (Foundation, a treatment center), and I Just had no fight left in me. I had a day on the books like it was maybe a month after that overdose. So, I just had to wait for that day when that day came around."
Carter has been clean since Aug. 25, 2021.
"I completed my program and I got out... got accepted into a sober living home and then I did the drug court program," Carter said. "If I can do it, anybody can do it because I was literally like, there was pretty much no hope. Everybody had kind of lost hope for me, you know. I was in it too deep."
During her addiction, she lost her home, job and kids. Now, approaching four years of sobriety, Carter has a great job, just bought a car, has a roof over her head and got her kids back.
"My kids, you know, they would have been the ones who suffered the most if I hadn't made it through that day," Carter said. "If I had not been (given) Narcan that day, then I wouldn't have even had the chance to get where I'm at today."
Taylor Cook, an epidemiologist at RiverStone Health, noted that the typical number of weekly overdoses in Yellowstone County is two to three. However, the recent spike to six, suspected to have been caused by opioids, in just three days has raised concerns.
“We’ll continue monitoring for the rest of the week and wait until we return to our baseline numbers,” Cook said.
The increase in overdose cases was identified through ODMAP, an overdose tracking system used by first responders and health departments. ODMAP is used nationwide, and Cook said it has been used in Yellowstone County for a few years.
“It’s a mapping program where you can pinpoint the exact location of an overdose,” Cook explained. "This is not the highest we've seen. It was in October of 2023. We did have a spike that in Yellowstone and that had a much higher fatal overdose rates. So, there were over 10 fatalities related to one overdose spike during that month. So significantly larger than what we're seeing now."
In this recent surge, five of the six individuals received Narcan. One person died, however, Cook could not share if that person had been administered Narcan or not.
"Anyone can carry Narcan and administer it in any situation," Cook said. "It's a life-saving measure."
A life-saving measure that Carter will always be grateful for.
"It saved my life 100%," she said. "I actually care about myself now, like I love Dawn enough to want better for her."
Narcan is available to purchase over the counter at most pharmacies. Call RiverStone Health Pharmacy at 406-247-3330, Monday-Friday 8:30 a.m. to 5:30 p.m. Free fentanyl test strips are available at largestheart.org.
