Aug. 30—princeton — A village of brightly — colored tents sprang up Thursday outside a local community mental health center as part of a celebration for people recovering from drug addiction and remembering those lost to the tragedy of overdoses.
“It’s International Overdose Awareness Day,” said Candace Nelson, senior divisional director of community programs at Southern Highlands Community Mental Health Center. “It’s one of those holidays where we celebrate people in recovery and we remember those who had a fatal overdose and are not here with us today, so it’s kind of a sad day, but it’s one we try to celebrate.”
“We want to decrease the stigma around substance abuse treatment and we want people to connect with others in the recovery community, and we just want all the resources out on the front lawn so people know what’s available here because we have a great community that supports recovery,” Nelson said. “We want people to know about them.”
Roxana Hartsog, regional youth prevention specialist for Prevention Suicide West Virginia and also with FMRS (Fayette, Monroe, Raleigh and Summers) Health Systems, was among the people who pitched a tent and shared information with the public about the 988 suicide prevention hotline as well as Narcan and youth programs.
People who use drugs are at a higher risk for suicide, Hartsog said.
“Some of it either happens by accident and some of it is intentional,” she said. “We’re just trying to give resources as much as possible to the people and let them know that we’re here to help.”
Members of families with loved one in recovery or tragically lost to overdoses attended the Overdose Awareness Day event.
“We also have people in recovery here and we want to celebrate the decision they made to change their lives; but we also remember those who are not with us here today, so we’ll have some family members here,” Nelson said. “We’re doing some wind chimes. They can leave a message for somebody and then we’ll string those and let the wind make a little music this evening with some rope lights under the canopies.”
Lisa Jones, CEO of Southern Highlands, said her organization has been commemorating International Overdose Awareness Day for several years.
“Normally it’s on Aug. 31, but because that falls on a weekend we’re doing that today,” she said.
Overdoses are still a significant problem, but improvements can be seen, Jones said.
Last year, Southern Highlands recorded 221 overdoses and 25 deaths from January to April. There was a reduction from January to April this year with 189 overdoses and 10 deaths.
“We’re still fighting. Narcan has become more accessible over the past few years,” Jones said. “We’ve had a huge increase in community partnerships with law enforcement, Community Connections, fire, our ambulance services and along with mental health and some other partners, we’ve really hit it hard from more of a community team perspective and I think we’re starting to definitely see some improvement We have a long way to go, but I think we’ve made a lot of progress.”
Contact Greg Jordan
Contact Greg Jordan at gjordan@bdtonline.com
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