Q&A WITH PAM GAY

What does it mean to you to be an American?

I am so thankful to be an American. A friend of mine who lives in a less advanced country once reminded me that people do not get to choose where they are born, and many times that simple demographic detail of where one is born can be the factor that determines how long they will live, quality of life and if they will ever enjoy the freedoms that we are afforded simply by being born here.

What moment touched and motivated you to launch this effort?

Two things: One happened 13 years ago when my husband and I suddenly were caught up in the world of drug and alcohol addiction when we discovered that our niece was an addict. Fast forward to 2014 when I first became coroner, one of our earliest decedents, who died from her heroin addiction, was a young mother of two children who had recently been working hard to get sober. The media picked up on the story, and suddenly our community realized we were in the middle of something unlike anything we had experienced before.

What gives me hope?

People give me hope. Especially all the wonderful people I’ve met in the three years I’ve been involved in this effort. People who’ve lost children and parents, people in recovery from heroin or other opioid addiction who bravely tell their story, people who are leading efforts to help in the rehab/recovery process, elected officials who are trying to learn as much as they can to craft helpful legislation, hospital ED physicians and nurses and law enforcement/EMS/fire departments who administer naloxone during overdose without reservation. All of these people inspire me to keep fighting this fight.

What do I hope to accomplish?

I hope that through our office being so vocal about this issue of heroin and opioid addiction that we would one day see a month, several months, even a year go by without a death from this disease.