WARSAW – A movement to reduce the number of overdose deaths and suicides in Kosiusko County is gaining traction.

A local Suicide-Overdose Fatality Review (SOFR) team was established in 2024 with the support of county coroner Tyler Huffer and Tammy Cotton, a co-founder of LITE Recovery Hub, whose organization often sees upclose the impact of both types of deaths.

The SOFR team includes representatives of local hospitals, mental health organizations, law enforcement, emergency responders and others who meet regularly to review recent cases in hopes of learning what can be done to reduce those types of deaths in the future.

Nationally, suicides have been on the rise since the pandemic, with an increasing number involving young people.

While the local number of overdoses deaths has fallen in recent years, the number of suicides has perhaps gained more attention.

The coroner’s office documented 14 overdose deaths last year, which is nearly half as many as it was just a few years ago.

There were 16 suicides in the county in 2025. 

The county recorded four suicides in January.

SOFR uses guidelines from the Indiana Department of Health in developing programs that address suicide and overdose deaths. Marshall and Whitley counties have also established SOFR teams.

In Kosicusko County, one program is already established, and another is being developed.

Both were jump-started with grant money secured by Cotton.

Handle with Care is used in the Warsaw and Tippecanoe Valley school districts and helps school officials identify students who have experienced a traumatic event so they can watch for signs that those students are struggling.

The other initiative is the creation of a LOSS Team (Local Outreach for Suicide Survivors), a concept being embraced in other communities, which offers support and resources to those closely affected by suicide, often family members.

Losing a family member to suicide significantly increases the risk of suicidal behavior for survivors.

The group includes involvement from those who have been touched by suicide.

Organizers say they want to create a supportive community, which can help reduce the amount of isolation people often experience after being close to someone who has taken their life.

"We're trying to help those from going down that same road," Huffer said.

Cotton said they are still in the early stages of establishing the LOSS team and that they will eventually have a Facebook page.

SOFR is also promoting a new effort led by Warsaw CARES to offer free training on how to approach somebody who they think might be feeling suicidal.

The class is called QPR, which stands for Question, Persuade, and Refer.

"It's basically CPR for suicide prevention, said Tanya Jackson, one of two full-time staff with CARES.

She said numerous groups, including Warsaw city employees, have had the training, and officials believe it could benefit young people.

"It's something everyone should be trained on, I feel like, because you never know when you're going to come across someone that might have suicidal thoughts," Cotton said.

Huffer said he’s encouraged by the progress of SOFR and said he’d like to see even more collaboration, especially with CARES.

“We’re moving in the right direction, for sure,” Huffer said.

Cotton agrees

"I think we have some growing to do, but we're on the right track," Cotton said. "I know we're making a difference because we're seeing the numbers go down in overdose deaths."

While Fentanyl remains prevalent in the community, the number of overdose deaths from Fentanyl has dropped off significantly,  officials said.

Cotton, who tracks overdose deaths, said she thinks increased access to Narcan, which can reverse the effects of an overdose, has helped.

LITE is in the process of making Narcan easily available free of charge throughout the county.

Soon after assuming office in 2023, Huffer installed a sign outside his office on Old Road 30 that tracks the number of overdose deaths for the year.

“That sign outside the coroner's office won't come down until we have zero,” he said

.

The post Group working to reduce overdose deaths, suicides turns to new programs appeared first on News Now Warsaw.

I am so angry about Notre Dame losing Saturday, but who I blame is probably not who you expect.

I blame me, and me alone.

Did I act like the game was over Saturday after the Irish moved down the field and scored on the opening drive of the game? No, I did not.

Did I let the Huskies do just about anything they wanted to do with the ball? No.

Did I call a long pass play with a one-point lead and the clock running under the three-minute mark in the fourth quarter? Oh heck NO!

But I am fully and completely responsible for the powerful sense of angst and anger that I have felt since the game-winning field goal for Northern Illinois in the game’s final minute sailed through the goal posts.

I am fully and completely responsible for the softball-sized knot I have had in my stomach since about the middle of the third quarter of that game.

I can only control what I can control, and I cannot control whether or not Notre Dame beats anyone.

I cheer, cheer, cheer for Old Notre Dame. That’s most of my part of the process.

The other part is to remember that I cheer, cheer, cheer for Notre Dame.

Which means I should have seen this coming.

I should have remembered that Notre Dame rarely wins on the big stage, and when they do win a big game like the Irish did in Week 1 at Texas A&M and moved up to number 5 in the poll, I should have expected them to fail the following week.

I should have expected the team to underperform in that situation.

I should have believed that the fun of Kyle Field would fall back to sports-inflicted grief and despair.

I should have known.

We all should have known.

Frankly, historically epic home upset losses are as much a part of the legacy of the last 30 years of Notre Dame Football as Touchdown Jesus and the world’s best college band have ever been.

As a matter of fact, as Northern Illinois was driving down the field to win the game, I kept hearing a familiar voice in my head that repeated the phrase, “The kicker is David Gordon.”

On November 16, 1993, number 2 Notre Dame beat number 1 Florida State at Notre Dame Stadium to take over the top spot in college football.

A very mediocre Boston College Eagle team came to South Bend the following Saturday and was in a position to beat the Irish on a game-winning field goal with just a few seconds to play.

I was driving at the moment, and I pulled over to the side of the road to hear what happened in the final play. I was listening to my heroes, Tony Roberts and Tom Pagna, describing every twitch of every player on the field.

I heard Roberts call out the name of the snapper and holder, then said very calmly “the kicker is David Gordon.”

Just as calmly, Gordon stepped into the 41-yard field goal and kicked Notre Dame right out of the national championship conversation.

That exact feeling is how I felt Saturday night when the Huskies lined up to kick the field goal at the end of the game.

I guess I am just tired, as a Notre Dame fan, of expecting disappointment.

It’s not that I expect Notre Dame to be in the national championship game every year, or even the final four! I not a spoiled Fighting Irish fan like some surely are.

No, I just am tired of losing out on special seasons for the wrong reasons. If the Irish had lost to the Aggies last weekend, I could have handled that a lot better than the other way around.

And the thing is, if it was one person being the common thread through all of the frustration, that person could be replaced.

But it’s not. Different head coaches, different coordinators, different players — same result.

Now what?

They will be favored in just about every game that remains on the schedule. Assuming they go 9-1 the rest of the way, they will finish 10-2 and will find themselves sitting around large TV screens with stern looks on their faces, wondering if they will see their name in the brackets of the new 12-team playoff.

It’s going to be months before we know … but it might feel like years.

The post It’s Notre Dame — we should have known appeared first on News Now Warsaw.