ROCHESTER, N.Y. – Monroe County has been awarded $1.6 million in federal funding to conduct an “overdose fatality review” to learn more about the people who are dying of overdoses in our community. 

A multi-disciplinary team, made up of public and mental health care professionals, public safety agencies, social service providers, and the community, will review data monthly related to specific overdose deaths in order to identify emerging trends and existing barriers to prevention.

For years, News10NBC has been trying to tell the stories of those who have died, like 22-year-old Jayden Dillenbeck who grew up in Greece. She was a model, a daughter, a sister. “Best of our knowledge, she used cocaine laced with fentanyl,” says her mother Laurie Dillenbeck.

Dillenbeck says her daughter struggled with addiction and mental health issues for years and was receiving outpatient treatment at the time of her death.  Jayden had no idea what was in the drug she was taking to try and self-medicate. “When fentanyl is involved, the outcome is most likely tragic,” Dillenbeck says.

It’s stories like Jayden’s that the county is hoping will show them where the gaps are.

“How can you work with each one of those families to understand… where could the system have been better, how could it have been designed better to impact that family,” says Monroe County Executive Adam Bello. 

“I think about this very simply, a face to a name. A face to a name and information to what happened,” adds Rochester Mayor, Malik Evans. 

For more information about resources available for those suffering from addiction Click here.

*A.I. assisted with the formatting of this story. Click here to see how WHEC News 10 uses A.I.*