VIROQUA, Wis. – The family members of overdose victims featured in a new billboard campaign by the Amara Rose Foundation gathered in Viroqua earlier this month near the first billboard to go up. The families are hoping this unique approach of using personal images and stories of loved ones they have lost to a fentanyl overdose will help reach others and prevent more overdoses.
Heidi Overson started the Amara Rose Foundation after losing her daughter Amara (Mari) to a fentanyl overdose in 2022. She started the foundation to honor her daughter but to help reach those struggling with addiction and their families. Heidi said her daughter suffered from addiction and mental issues for years before she lost her life. She said she came up with the idea to use personal stories when she saw the reaction to those stories on social media.
“The posts that get the most likes and shares are posts where we show pictures of Mari,” said Overson. “Or pictures of other people that have died from fentanyl or addiction. So, people want to see a face to the statistic and that’s apparently the most effective way to get our messages through. So that’s what we’re doing.”
Overson said starting the foundation has helped her heal from her daughter’s death, but it is still painful and hopes she can prevent others from going through that pain.
“When we first found out, she was using hard drugs it was like she had already died,” said Overson “I took her first overdose really, really hard. I would just, I remember driving the other kids to school. And I’d have to pull off to the side of the road after I dropped him off and I would just be sobbing because I couldn’t believe that was my daughter because it was almost like a death sentence and it was almost like we knew. And we still fought. For seven years we fought. To try to bring her around, to try to heal her and so the day that she died, it wasn’t a total surprise, but it was still really hard. And it’s been two years and I feel like I’ve done a lot of healing. But you know, like if I sit and talk about it, like this pain, it comes back real fresh and I don’t want other families to go through what we’ve been through.”
“What we’ve been through, you know, every person that’s here, their sister, brother, child up on the billboard, everybody that’s here for them knows the pain,” said Overson. “So, we’re warning people. We’re sending a message to people that it can happen to any family, whether you’re blue collar, upper class. It can happen to you and your family.
Overson said the message they want to send is for parents to know what their children are doing and pay attention because addiction to fentanyl can happen to anyone.
“What we’ve been through, you know, every person that’s here, their sister, brother, child up on the billboard, everybody that’s here for them knows the pain,” said Overson. “So, we’re warning people. We’re sending a message to people that it can happen to any family, whether you’re blue collar, upper class. It can happen to you and your family. So, if you’re raising children at home, know what they’re doing. Spend time with them. If you have grown children, know what they’re doing. Spend time with them.
Overson said one myth they would like to dispel is that only heavy user’s overdose. She said fentanyl is showing up in other drugs and unsuspecting users are overdosing. Overson said that is why they are making fentanyl test strips available, so thos who are using can be sure they are not accidentally taking fentanyl.
“You know you’ve got people who are heavy users of a certain drug,” said Overson. “Where you get people who are recreational users, they could die because fentanyl is showing up in pot, in vapes and gummies and colored candy. Rainbow colored candy. You don’t know.”
Overson said that is how one of Mari’s friends, who is on the billboard, overdosed.
“Mari had a friend,” said Overson. “Well, it was Karl (Tully), actually. Her and him used together occasionally and they got two doses of a drug. He picked one. She picked one. She came home. I didn’t know she came home. He used his drug. His drug had fentanyl in it and Mary’s didn’t. So, you just never know if you are using, and you can’t stop. Keep reaching out for help. But in the meantime, get those fentanyl test strips and test everything that you use because we don’t want to lose you.”
Overson said the families who have a loved one on the billboard feel strongly about being on them because they want their story told.
“I have people coming up asking me still if their child can be on one of our billboards,” said Overson. “But when I asked these parents, it was not even a hesitation. Yes, because they want their stories heard. They want people to know what happened to their children. And they want to be a voice for their children.”
Overson said the funding for the billboard campaign is coming from a couple of sources. One source is the Viroqua Chamber “SOUP” events. Viroqua SOUP is a micro-granting, crowd-funding event where for a suggested donation of $5, attendees receive soup, bread, and listen to four project pitches. At the end of the night, attendees vote, and the winner goes home with all of the money raised to carry out their project. The winner comes back to a future SOUP event to report his or her project’s progress.
The other source of funding is the Vernon County Opioid Prevention and Abatement Steering Committee. That is a county committee assigned the task of deciding how to use funds received from the National Opioid Settlement to support community program initiatives of opioid mitigation and reduction strategies.
Julie and Mike Tully lost their son Karl to fentanyl seven years ago at the age of 26. They wanted to be a part of the billboard project to help prevent others understand that accidental overdoses can happen to anyone.
“Our son Karl passed away seven years ago of an overdose,” said Julie Tully. “A fentanyl overdose, accidental fentanyl overdose. He was the light of our life. You know, we miss him every day and our hope is that the public is aware that this fentanyl is in everything from marijuana to cocaine to any illegal substance. And it’s extremely deadly, and Narcan is important to have. We hope that in time that the government can recognize the number of deaths in this community and across the whole United States and try to put some money towards treatment and supporting those with addiction rather than trying to lock them up. But the foundation (Amara Rose) is important to us.”
Julie said she immediately agreed to have her son Karl be one of the people on the Billboard because wants people to know that fentanyl is killing people right here.
“I think sometimes people think, and it at least I know I did, is that people that are dying from fentanyl are not necessarily from this area,” said Julie. “But they’re definitely people from this area. And the number seems to be growing, going up every year, and it’s just really frightening. And we just want other people to be aware.”
Julie said one of the things they want others to know, including parents, is that guarding against fentanyl overdose is difficult because it is sometimes delivered through other recreational drugs, or even other legal substances, without the user being aware.
“Our son did have a problem with addiction,” said Julie. “His primary drug of choice was alcohol, but he also used other substances at times and ultimately that’s what killed him. I’m afraid that, you know, a young person is going to use marijuana and it’s going to kill them. Or someone is going to hand them something that they say, oh this will take care of your headache, you know, that’s very risky.”
Both Mike and Julie said one the of barriers to helping their son was the shortage of treatment options, or options that could accommodate their son’s particular situation.
“One of the big things is that treatments are often only 30 days,” said Julie. “And it takes up to a year for the drugs to really get out of someone’s system so they can look at this in a healthy way and make some decisions that that might save their life. Or change their life. We struggled because we would try to take Karl in and at the time that that he was ready to go, there weren’t any beds, there wasn’t any openings. Another issue was he was a daily alcohol user. So, he needed to detox and before they would take him, unless he detoxed first. Well, yeah, a treatment center can’t handle someone that’s detoxing. It’s not so medical, it’s more, you know, emotional or it’s mental. And in that way, they’re not equipped to deal with it. And so, they kind of need to get this all together in one place and unfortunately detoxing, that’s part of it. Especially if it’s alcohol.”
Steve Campbell with the Viroqua Chamber was at the unveiling of the billboard and said the Chamber was pleased that they could contribute to the effort with the funds from the SOUP grant program.
“So when I got the call today to be here and represent the chamber for how they received some funds that they used to put up the billboard”, said Campbell. “So we have Viroqua SOUP, which is where people come have some soup that’s donated. People bring in their civic minded ideas and they tell their story and then people vote, and whoever has the most votes wins the money. And this is what they use the money for is to kind of show the story of their children. So it’s pretty amazing.”
Viroqua Mayor Justin Running said he was happy to participate in a recent fundraiser for Amara Rose Foundation.
“I had the opportunity last was it last month to participate in a fundraising event for the Amara Rose Foundation through the Chili Cook Off,” said Running. “And I think they had some significant money raised on that operation. And I was just honored to be asked to even be part of it. This is an issue that we all need to take seriously and pay attention to, and the work they’re doing is phenomenal. So grateful to be here.”
Vernon County Sheriff Roy Torgerson said the billboards and the work the Amara Rose Foundation is doing helps to get the message out that the fentanyl issue a local one.
“It does happen here and it’s important that we’re aware of that,” said Torgerson. “And the work the Amara Rose Foundation is doing, the donation from Viroqua SOUP, it really helps get that community awareness that fentanyl is here. It’s unfortunately alive and well and you know as law enforcement we can react to it, but it’s so important that we get out ahead of it and be as proactive as possible.’
Torgerson said it is important that everyone carry Narcan and not just people who are dealing with an addiction problem because you never know when it might be needed. Torgerson said they are working to try to get Narcan to the public because it has been very effective at saving lives.
“So the Sheriff’s Office here in Vernon County partnered with the the Crawford County Sheriff’s Office last year in obtaining a grant for Narcan. So we were able to distribute some Narcan to the first responders and then I was able to provide some of that supply to the Vernon County Health Department. So if someone’s looking for Narcan while supplies last, the Vernon County Health Department would be a place for the public to pick up Narcan”
Torgerson estimated that Narcan has likely saved hundreds of lives in Vernon County over the last several years.
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