The holiday season may bring joy to many people, but that isn’t the case for everyone. A northern Illinois church is acknowledging a different type of emotion this Christmas.
Violet Johnicker is the pastor at Brooke Road United Methodist church in Rockford. The house of worship is having its third “Blue Christmas" Service. The term “blue” describes the sadness people feel this time of the year. Johnicker said the service usually acknowledges the grief that people experience this season but this year the church is focusing on a certain type of prevention.
“Several years ago, Winnebago County actually was experiencing the highest rate of opioid overdose deaths in the state of Illinois,” she said, “and that has very thankfully declined as overdose deaths have declined locally and nationally.”
The pastor said opioid use affects everyone from elderly folks who become dependent on them post-surgery to young people who get into other family members’ pills.
She also added that the service will have a Narcan blessing.
“Narcan is also called naloxone. It's a lifesaving overdose reversal medication,” she explained. “And to be really clear, Narcan is not a drug you can get high from it's just something that reverses an overdose.”
Johnicker said the Winnebago County Health Department and many other organizations encourage everyone to keep Narcan on hand.
The latest data from the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention show that opioid use has declined in 2023 versus 2022.
Johnicker said although the numbers have decreased, people are still mourning loved ones who were loss in previous years.
“And we believe," she said, "that by offering a service like this; to name it and talk about it and have local leaders voicing their concerns and things that they're pledging to do to help, it helps to break down the stigma so more people can access treatment.”
Mayor Tom McNamara and other local leaders will offer words during the service.
This year’s “Blue Christmas,” honoring those who lost their lives due to an opioid overdose, takes place at 10 a.m. Monday Dec. 23 at the church.
