Last September, New Yorkers were left in one piece after authorities reported the baby’s death. Nicholas Dominici after being poisoned with fentanyl while under the care of staff at a daycare center in Bronx County.
The death of the little boy of Latin origin added to the already long list of more than 3,400 deaths by opioid overdose occurred in New York since May of last year, and further set off the alarms of parents, health agencies and law enforcement agents, who have intensified their fight against drug use in the Big Apple, which each year leads to hundreds of people in emergency rooms. During 2022, only the five counties registered 3,026 overdose deaths.
And in its efforts to protect minors from being exposed to the effects of opioids and avoid preventable tragedieswhich have mourned homes like that of the little boy who died in the Bronx, a few days ago New York political leaders announced a state and municipal law initiative to put a total stop to these tragedies.
He state senator Gustavo Rivera, chair of the Senate Health Committee, will push legislation in Albany that aims to provide education and training to child care providers on overdose prevention, while ensuring extensive training for inspectors on how to identify illicit drugs in those facilities.
Likewise, the article that seeks to be approved in the state Legislature, aims at the same time to give greater power to parents so that their right to have full information about the places where they are leaving their children is protected. The new rule would ensure that they are informed of the existing tools and procedures for making inquiries and filing complaints with the State Office of Children and Family Services, as well as having the right to inspect child care sites.
“The Fentanyl Exposure Incident at a Day Care Center in My District Was a Horrible Tragedy. “The heartbreaking death of one-year-old Nicholas Dominici, and the terror that families experienced due to the negligence and callousness of care center providers, cannot happen again,” he said. Senator Rivera.
Albany’s upper house political leader added that the piece of legislation he is pushing also seeks to equip inspectors to safeguard child care centers across New York, train parents to ensure child care facilities are suitable for their children and provide resources to childcare providers to prevent other tragedies from happening again.
“Our community is still grieving and stunned by that dayso it is an honor for me to work closely with Councilwoman Pierina Sánchez in this coordinated legislative response at the state and municipal level on behalf of the families and caregivers of New York,” said the Hispanic politician, after warning that from the City Council of the Big Apple, the leader of the Bronx county will do the same in defense of minors in daycare care.
From the legislative body of the City of New York, the politician highlighted that in the last three months, after the death of little Nicholas, work has been carried out with local and state leaders not only to provide support to the Feliz Dominici family, but also to review at all levels of government the gaps that exist in policies and protocols that can detect warning signs and prevent tragedies, in order to explore opportunities to better inform and support parents about their rights.
“This tragedy and this initial set of legislative responses highlight many overlapping challenges facing our communities, from the cruelty of illegal drug trafficking to the lack of affordable child care opportunities. Nicholas, for you and your family, we continue fighting,” said Councilwoman Sánchez, warning that New York cannot allow one more innocent death.
“Nicholas Feliz Dominici should have been safe in this daycare. The Feliz Dominici family did everything right, from working with trusted community institutions to vetting licensed daycare providers. However, government protocols failed to capture possible warnings in this facility, and the current scourge of illegal opioid drug trafficking robbed us of a beautiful young life,” said the Hispanic councilwoman. “As the mother of a boy who even looks like little Nicholas, my heart remains broken by this devastating tragedy.”
The legislative move comes at a time when the opioid overdose crisis has surpassed historic levels in the Big Apple, as shown by the most recent data from the city’s Department of Health and Mental Hygiene, which showed that last year by At least 3,026 deaths were recorded, the highest number since 2000, when the effect of drugs began to be documented.
Another worrying fact highlighted by the statistics is that deaths caused by overdoses increased by 12% between 2021 and 2022, and although adults ages 55 to 64 continue to have the highest overdose rate, followed by adults ages 45 to 54, smaller populations, including the youngest, are also vulnerable.
Among the overdose deaths, fentanyl, which is 50 times more potent than morphine, was found in the 81% of the deceased.
The alarm among Hispanic neighborhoods is quite great, especially since figures from health authorities reveal that Latino and black New Yorkers have the highest rates of overdose deaths, with a trend of increasing.
Big Apple Health Commissioner Dr. Ashwin Vasanrevealed that in the city there is a death due to overdose every three hours, and asked everyone to be attentive and ready to help save those suffering from drug abuse with equipment such as naloxone.
“This crisis is killing one New Yorker every three hours and is affecting every individual and family in our city and our nation. No one is saved, even if you think otherwise,” warned the medical expert, who added that he has set a goal to reduce overdose deaths by 15% by 2025.
Parents like Lourdes Molina, who lives a few blocks from where little Nicholas, aged 1, died last September, was in favor of more education so that parents can identify warning signs when they believe that minors are being exposed to drugs in places such as schools and daycares, but insisted that punishments and penalties be extreme for those who put the lives of children at risk.
“There doesn’t have to be drugs in a daycare, it’s totally crazy and I’m glad there are attempts to improve inspections. of those places, but I think they should also condemn those who are responsible for the death or overdose of children, with exemplary punishments, to send a clear message that this is something that should not be allowed now or ever,” said the Salvadoran mother “That child should not be dead and those responsible for taking care of him in the daycare should remain imprisoned forever.“.
Data
- 1 1-year-old boy died in a daycare center in the Bronx in September
- 3,026 overdose deaths were recorded in the city in 2022
- 3,400 opioid overdose deaths occurred across New York between May of last year and May of this year
- 1 New Yorker dies every 3 hours in the Big Apple from an overdose
- There were 2,696 overdose deaths in the city in 2021
- 12% was the increase in the last two years reported
- There were 330 more deaths last year, many of them Latinos and blacks.
- 43.3 per 100,000 residents in NYC is the overdose death rate
- 62.0 per 100,000 inhabitants is the death rate among Latinos and blacks
- Ages 55 to 64 have the highest overdose rate, followed by adults ages 45 to 54.
- Bronx residents had highest overdose death rate in 2022
- Staten Island had the second highest rate at 38.0 per 100,000 residents
- 81% of overdose deaths in 2022 linked fentanyl, such as the case of the child who died in the Bronx daycare
- 7 out of ten overdoses occurred in homes
2023-12-19 11:40:00
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