KSHB 41 reporter Megan Abundis covers Kansas City, Missouri, including neighborhoods in the southern part of the city. Share your story idea with Megan.
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Healthcare leaders and first responders gathered at St. Luke's South Hospital on Tuesday to discuss ongoing efforts in the fight against fentanyl.
The summit's roundtable highlighted both progress and challenges in addressing the deadly drug crisis.
"As a mother, I'm very worried about the youth and their exposure to this medication, and I want to be part of the solution," said Jennifer Elliott, who works in the St. Luke's Health System.
Elliott emphasized the need for more treatment resources for patients struggling with pain medication misuse.
"The biggest concerns I have as a healthcare provider are resources for treatment of patients that maybe go down that slope of misuse of pain medication," she said.
Congresswoman Davids praised the collaborative efforts that have led to improved statistics.
Davids said the amount of fentanyl deaths nationwide in 2024 decreased within a year by 24%, while Kansas has seen a 19% reduction in fentanyl-related deaths.
"It speaks volumes about the efforts of law enforcement, our healthcare providers, our educators," Davids said.
Davids and Kansas City metro healthcare leaders reported significant improvement in fentanyl overdoses in schools, attributing the progress to increased education and wider availability of naloxone in schools.
Kansas City, Kansas, Police Chief Karl Oakman, who recently returned from visiting the southern border, attended the summit in Overland Park.
During his border visit, Oakman had emphasized the connection between border security and the fentanyl crisis.
"We're losing Kansans to fentanyl poisoning, and this is really the first stop on really addressing that, it's here at the border," Oakman said.
Chief Oakman said Tuesday "KCKPD was the first agency in the metro to implement a detailed fentanyl/opiate strategy to include education, prevention, investigation, and enforcement. This approach has eliminated millions of lethal doses of fentanyl off the streets and helped us reduce violent crime in our neighborhoods.”
Despite the positive trends, Davids warned that younger children are increasingly being exposed to fentanyl.
"First responders are seeing children as young as 2 or 9 months having exposure to fentanyl," she said.
Outside of the "Big Beautiful Bill," Davids also expressed concern about a proposed 35% cut in programs that fight fentanyl in next year's federal budget. She is part of a bipartisan effort to maintain current funding levels.
"It would have a very detrimental impact for the ability for all of the folks to coordinate and continue to address the fentanyl crisis," Davids said.
Elliott agreed, saying that knowing there's a nice community of people working together to combat this problem is really important, Elliott said.
The summit brought together representatives from numerous healthcare organizations including AdventHealth, Children's Mercy Kansas City, Elizabeth Layton Center, Franklin County Public Health, Johnson County Emergency Medical Services (MED-ACT), Johnson County Mental Health, Kansas City Kansas Fire Department, Kansas City Kansas Police Department, Miami County Health Department, Midwest High Intensity Drug Trafficking Areas Program (HIDTA), Saint Luke's Health System, The University of Kansas Health System, and Wyandotte County Health Department.
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