Approximately a year and a half after the most crushing tragedy of her life, Beth Bourgeois keeps going. She advocates. She offers warnings and she educates.
For Bourgeois, it keeps the name of her late daughter Jessica alive. And for Bourgeois, it’s the most effective therapy for her grief.
“I take my pain and my anger, and put it into advocacy,” Bourgeois said. “It just helps. It’s something positive out of so much negativity.”
At just 30 years old, Jessica Scroggins died the morning of Feb. 3, 2022, the result of cardiac arrest brought on by fentanyl poisoning – an oxycontin pill she had obtained from a friend was loaded with the lethal drug. Bourgeois lived a nightmare that day, and she was the person who discovered her daughter’s body after her poisoning.
Scroggins had battled opioid addiction for years following severe injuries suffered in a car accident involving an 18-wheeler in 2014. It was the second major medical incident of her life to that point, after shattering her foot and fracturing her pelvis in middle school due to a 4-wheeler accident.
Bourgeois said her daughter was receiving treatment for her addiction, but that following the closure of the clinic where she was being treated Scroggins was cut off cold turkey from the medication she was taking to ease her out of opioid addiction. Bourgeois believes that withdrawal spurred her daughter to seek the non-prescription alternative that led to her death.
Today, Bourgeois is the lead for a group of families grieving and who have been affected by fentanyl poisoning in the state of Louisiana, as they attempt to have a memorial site created to remember those lost to what’s become a growing epidemic throughout the country. The Louisiana group is one part of an organization pushing nationally to have a permanent, physical memorial location for victims created in each of the country’s 50 states, with a similar group in each state.
As part of the push, families are writing letters to Louisiana First Lady Donna Edwards, with each to also be included in a digital book that will be sent to the White House and First Lady Dr. Jill Biden. Bourgeois said 13 letters have been written so far, and up to 25 will be included.
Over 100 families in Louisiana previously submitted names of loved ones for an online digital memorial that was established last year.
“We kind of took off with this from there,” Bourgeois said. “We’d like to set up a permanent memorial somewhere. Our main goal is to educate people. If they have something physical to look at, it would help. Jessica and I didn’t know this problem was as widespread as it was. Now, I do.”
Having a physical memorial location would not just give the families coping with loss a place to go remember their loved ones. In the letter Bourgeois has written to Edwards, she conveys that the families would like their loved ones to be recognized as victims, and noted what she believes is a general prejudice toward those with substance abuse disorders – something that, while disincentivizing use in one way, can cause people to hide their problem and shy far away from seeking help. Bourgeois also noted she believes her daughter would be alive today were her treatment plan not discontinued.
“They want to hide it. Instead of getting help, they tell you something else,” Bourgeois said. “I see these photos the families send and I just cry. I look at these photos and look in their eyes … you see what their life was and know it ended because they made a huge mistake, and they’re gone now.”
Bourgeois believes many people brush off these situations because of a belief the victims were doing something they shouldn’t have been doing.
Even so, assuredly all would agree that they didn’t deserve to die for it.
“I remember growing up as a kid, and families might have some leftover antibiotics and you could share medicine … you can’t do that anymore. You could end up dead these days,” Bourgeois said. “They’re not taking what they think they’re taking when this happens. It’s poison. They’re tricked.”
As difficult as it is, Bourgeois shares her daughter’s story because she wants people to understand the risks that are out there, and that a similar situation could happen far easier to a loved one than many think.
In all, more than 500 letters combined from 50 states will be en route to Biden.
Bourgeois said she never planned to take a leadership role with the memorial group, but once she realized someone needed to step up, the choice was easy.
“I knew Jessica would want me to do this,” Bourgeois said.
It’s been helpful in the healing process as well.
“It’s helped me because these people completely understand how I feel. When I share something or write something, they relate to it. It’s just … they know,” Bourgeois said.
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