Hartford, WI – “Start Healing Now” is a community organization that is entirely operated by volunteers dedicated to seeing the end of the opioid epidemic throughout Wisconsin and nationwide.
They increase awareness of the Overdose Aid Kit (O.A.K.) Box Program (image attached), and other services for those suffering from the disease of addiction. No one is immune to the horrors of opioid addiction. Their number one goal is to end this epidemic.
In memory of Jason Weinfurter, his parents Connie and Glenn Weinfurter have purchased an O.A.K. Box to be installed in Hartford (47 N. Main St – in the parking lot behind main building) so that residents in need can access essential life-saving resources such as Narcan and resource information.
The installation will take place Thursday, April 24 at 2 p.m.
Addiction has a ripple effect that is so profoundly destructive. Jason Weinfurter died of fentanyl and xylazine poisoning from laced pills. On November 28, 2023, his father found him unconscious.
After attempts to save him, something that no parent should ever have to experience, the EMT spoke words that would change our lives forever: “We’re going to terminate operations upstairs. Your son has died.”
That is a sentence that unfortunately so many have heard about their son, daughter, brother, sister, cousin, friend; or it’s a sentence that many are fearful of hearing someday, or even hearing again about your other children or loved ones.
When people think of who uses drugs, a very stereotypical image often comes to mind, that they are somehow people that nobody cares about, people on the streets, people who are somehow bad. Jason was none of those things. Although he struggled with opioid addiction, he was also so much more than that.
“He had many friends and family that cared about him, a successful career as a mechanic, and so many hobbies and passions that he enjoyed. If we can save just one person, one family, from this painful loss, that’s important to us,” said Stephanie Weinfurter.