Bronx locals say fentanyl ‘ruined neighborhood’ where 1-year-old died from opioid exposure
A rosary hangs on a metal gate outside of a Bronx daycare where a 1-year-old boy died after being exposed to opioids on Friday. Bahar Ostadan By Ramsey Khalifeh and Bahar Ostadan Published Sep 17, 2023 at 3:38 p.m. ET Days after a 1-year-old boy died after an apparent opioid exposure at a Bronx daycare center, longtime residents in the area were mourning not just the loss of the infant — but also their neighborhood, which they say has become overrun with fentanyl.
“This reminds me of the crack epidemic,” said Chanel Garcia, 35, who lives near the Morris Avenue daycare where 1-year-old Nichols Dominici was found unconscious along with two other young children on Friday. “Fentanyl has really ruined our neighborhood,” Garcia added. After losing her girlfriend and two friends to fentanyl overdoses, Garcia said she started carrying Narcan during the pandemic to revive people on the street. “I saved eight lives,” she said. “But for kids to get hurt from that stuff? It’s affecting people that don’t even deserve to be affected.” Garcia, who has lived in the neighborhood for nearly 30 years, said an area of E. Kingsbridge Road just down the street from the daycare is a hub for drug dealing.
“Two blocks from here you’ll see zombieland,” said Dan Trivino, another neighbor. “This is a scourge. If you walk in the train station, you’ll see them overdosing everyday.” Like Garcia, Trivino started voluntarily carrying Narcan to help revive people he came across in need of help. At 70, the former Vietnam War medic has revived 15- and 16-year-olds – but no one as young as those injured at the daycare, he said. “I call it the murder drug,” Trivino said of fentanyl. “They’re all bad, but this one is a terminator.”
https://gothamist.com/news/bronx-lo...od-where-1-year-old-died-from-opioid-exposure
A rosary hangs on a metal gate outside of a Bronx daycare where a 1-year-old boy died after being exposed to opioids on Friday. Bahar Ostadan By Ramsey Khalifeh and Bahar Ostadan Published Sep 17, 2023 at 3:38 p.m. ET Days after a 1-year-old boy died after an apparent opioid exposure at a Bronx daycare center, longtime residents in the area were mourning not just the loss of the infant — but also their neighborhood, which they say has become overrun with fentanyl.
“This reminds me of the crack epidemic,” said Chanel Garcia, 35, who lives near the Morris Avenue daycare where 1-year-old Nichols Dominici was found unconscious along with two other young children on Friday. “Fentanyl has really ruined our neighborhood,” Garcia added. After losing her girlfriend and two friends to fentanyl overdoses, Garcia said she started carrying Narcan during the pandemic to revive people on the street. “I saved eight lives,” she said. “But for kids to get hurt from that stuff? It’s affecting people that don’t even deserve to be affected.” Garcia, who has lived in the neighborhood for nearly 30 years, said an area of E. Kingsbridge Road just down the street from the daycare is a hub for drug dealing.
“Two blocks from here you’ll see zombieland,” said Dan Trivino, another neighbor. “This is a scourge. If you walk in the train station, you’ll see them overdosing everyday.” Like Garcia, Trivino started voluntarily carrying Narcan to help revive people he came across in need of help. At 70, the former Vietnam War medic has revived 15- and 16-year-olds – but no one as young as those injured at the daycare, he said. “I call it the murder drug,” Trivino said of fentanyl. “They’re all bad, but this one is a terminator.”
https://gothamist.com/news/bronx-lo...od-where-1-year-old-died-from-opioid-exposure
