Fight against fentanyl continues with $20K allotted to Hays County Sheriff's Office for education, outreach

The Hays County Commissioners Court approved $20,000 on Oct. 11 for the Hays County Sheriff's Office to be used for education and outreach relating to the fentanyl overdoses and deaths in recent months as previously reported by Community Impact.

There have been at least 10 fentanyl-related deaths since July 2021 that have been handled by the sheriff's office with more handled by other law enforcement agencies, such as the Kyle Police Department, according to Deputy Anthony Hipolito.

"The poisonings are continuing. Over the last month, we had 10 overdoses. Fortunately, no one has passed away," Hipolito said.

Since the end of August, the sheriff's office has been holding presentations at schools, booster clubs, homeowners associations, parent-teacher associations and other groups that will listen about the dangers of fentanyl, Hipolito said.

With this extra funding, the sheriff's office will be able to create more public service announcements, pamphlets and anything "creative," such as sponsored posts on social media, to reach as many people as possible.

The sheriff's office will also continue to host presentations about fentanyl with guest speakers, including family members directly affected by fentanyl, doctors from Ascension Seton Hays Hospital and more.

"We know we're not going to save everybody, but if we save one person at every presentation, we're doing our job," Hipolito said.