BAKERSFIELD, Calif. (KERO) — Statistics from the Kern County Coroner's Office show the county has seen the most fentanyl-related overdose deaths since 2017.
- Video shows photos of man who died due to a fentanyl related overdose
- In 2023, the Kern County Coroner's Office reports 297 people died due to a fentanyl-related overdose.
Hundreds of people in Bakersfield have lost their lives to fentanyl-overdose related deaths.
It’s an epidemic people across the nation hope to prevent by raising awareness on National Fentanyl Prevention and Awareness Day.
Ellie Hartman will never be able to dance or laugh with her brother again, but she’ll always remember it.
“It’s all I have. It’s everything I have of him,” Hartman said.
Hartman remembers partying with her older brother, Dylan Harte.
She says she found Harte passed out by his bed the morning after a night of drinking in 2021.
“There was vomit, and I tried to get on top of him and give him chest compressions, but I wasn’t strong enough,” she said.
She says she called his dad and Harte’s little brother Cameron to help get into the room.
“That whole time the little brother was screaming, ‘It was that blue pill. It was that blue pill. It must have been that blue pill,’” she said.
She says at the hospital, doctors determined Harte was brain dead, and she says his death report showed at 29-years-old Harte died with fentanyl and kratom, a drug with opioid-like effects, in his system.
“I was a partier before, but overnight it went from that to I was on the street in a traphouse,” she told 23ABC.
Hartman says she knows at least three people including her brother who lost their lives to fentanyl overdoes and recalls her addiction spiraling out of control, saying it almost killed her.
“It has taken so much from me.”
In 2023, 297 people died because of fentanyl-related overdose deaths.
That’s the most the county has seen since 2017.
“The more that we’re communicating. The more that we’re educating the community about fentanyl and the dangers of fentanyl, the increase in likelihood of people hopefully being able to take the steps necessary to not be negatively affected," she said.
Liz Bailey with Kern Behavioral Health and Recovery Services says the county distributes free Narcan in the event of an overdose and people struggling with substance abuse can call the access hotline.
As for Hartman, she’s four years sober, saying although her brother lost his life to an overdose, she says he saved hers.
“He saved my life," she said. "If something that big had never happened that broke me open so much. I don’t think I would’ve ever been a sober woman. ”
If you or someone you know is struggling with substance use, there are resources available for you
You can find details on how to get help.
Stay in Touch with Us Anytime, Anywhere:
