A Walk for Lives event in Fort Worth brought attention to overdose deaths and remembered people who died, CBS Texas reported. The gathering also points to an immediate local question: What should Tarrant County residents do when an overdose is suspected, and how can someone begin treatment?
Official county and provider information gives concrete answers. Tarrant County Public Health says to call 911 immediately when an overdose is suspected, use naloxone if it is available, help keep the person breathing and awake, place the person on their side and stay until help arrives. MHMR of Tarrant County says its substance-use services begin with a call to 817-332-6329.
The event was announced by the Drug Enforcement Administration as a family-led walk offering prevention education and connections to recovery and grief services. The practical information below carries that purpose forward with county data, emergency steps and a direct route to local screening.
What Tarrant County’s published figures show
A Tarrant County Public Health data brief reports 503 fatal overdoses among county residents in 2023. The agency says 90% of those deaths were unintentional.
The same brief reports 185 fentanyl-related overdose deaths among Tarrant County residents in 2023. That fentanyl figure is provisional, meaning it should not be presented as a final count. Public Health reported that the provisional total was 5% higher than the 2022 figure.
The dates and definitions matter. These are 2023 mortality figures, not a count for 2026 and not a real-time description of current conditions. One figure covers fatal overdoses among county residents, while the other identifies fentanyl-related overdose deaths within that year’s toll. The county’s description of 90% of fatal overdoses as unintentional is also specific to the reported 2023 data.
Tarrant County reported 185 fentanyl-related overdose deaths in 2023, but the county identifies that number as provisional.
Those limits do not diminish what the record documents. They keep the numbers in their proper frame: the latest figures approved for this article describe deaths among Tarrant County residents during 2023, and the fentanyl count remained subject to revision when published.
What to do if an overdose is suspected
Tarrant County Public Health’s instructions begin with an emergency call. Call 911 immediately. Do not treat the steps that follow as a substitute for professional emergency help.
If naloxone is available, the county advises administering it. Public Health also says to keep the person breathing and awake, place the person on their side and remain with them until help arrives.
Call 911 immediately, administer naloxone if it is available, keep the person breathing and awake, place the person on their side and stay until help arrives.
The county’s published guidance presents those actions as a sequence: summon help, use available naloxone, support the person while waiting, position them on their side and do not leave before responders arrive. The approved county material does not make emergency assistance conditional on knowing which substance was involved.
This article cannot assess an individual medical situation. Its emergency guidance is limited to the steps Tarrant County Public Health has published. In a suspected overdose, the county’s first instruction is the most direct one: call 911 immediately.
How to start substance-use services in Tarrant County
For treatment rather than an active emergency, MHMR of Tarrant County says people can begin by calling 817-332-6329. MHMR says eligibility and payment options are discussed during screening.
MHMR says people can start substance-use services by calling 817-332-6329 and discussing eligibility and payment options during screening.
The listed payment pathways include a sliding scale, Medicaid, private insurance and private pay. That does not establish what any particular caller will owe or which option will apply. It does identify payment and eligibility as part of the screening conversation.
MHMR lists adult outpatient treatment, adult residential treatment and youth services among its substance-use programs. Its service page also provides Fort Worth-area clinic addresses, giving readers a source for finding the listed locations alongside the screening number.
The range of programs matters because MHMR does not present treatment as a single service for every person. The provider identifies outpatient and residential options for adults as well as services for young people. Screening is the stated entry point for discussing eligibility, payment and the available pathway.
From remembrance to a usable local guide
The DEA’s announcement for the Fort Worth event described it as family-led and intended to provide prevention education plus connections to recovery and grief services. CBS Texas subsequently reported that the event raised awareness of overdose deaths and shared remembrance of people who died.
The event report establishes what happened in Fort Worth. The county brief and MHMR information supply the local actions that can continue after the walk: use the county’s emergency response steps when an overdose is suspected, and call the local screening number when someone is seeking substance-use services.
The two pathways should not be confused. A suspected overdose calls for 911 immediately, followed by the county’s other recommended steps while help is coming. The MHMR number is the starting point for service screening, including a discussion of eligibility and payment options; it is not presented in the approved material as a replacement for emergency response.
For families reading the 2023 figures, the most useful takeaway is not an unsupported prediction about what has happened since. It is the verified information available now: the county’s published response instructions, MHMR’s 817-332-6329 screening line, listed payment pathways and adult and youth program categories. Those details turn a remembrance event into a practical Tarrant County reference while keeping the age and provisional status of the mortality data clear.
