The Campbell River Community Action Team, with several community partners, will host an International Overdose Awareness Day (IOAD) event at Spirit Square on Thursday, Aug. 31.
The event will take place in two parts at Spirit Square. From 3-5 p.m., community partners will be on site with education materials, resource information, and Naloxone training. At 5 p.m., the education section of the event will end, and the event will shift to be more oriented towards a community memorial until 7 p.m. From 5-7 p.m., the event will hold a casual space for people to sit, listen to music, write letters, or create art to remember and honour loved ones who have been lost to this crisis or who are still struggling.
International Overdose Awareness Day provides an annual opportunity for communities to come together to remember those lost to the drug-poisoning crisis and to educate the public about the tools that are available to help prevent future drug poisonings in our community.
“We are currently in the 8th year of this public health emergency. This crisis is now at a scale where it is hard to imagine that it has not, in some way, touched the lives of every single one of us. We need to come together as a community and recognise the tremendous impact the toxic drug supply has on all of us.” says Gwen Donaldson, Coordinator, Campbell River Community Action Team
The Campbell River Overdose Awareness Day event will also include the “Weaving the Layers” public art project. This art project will be presented on August 31 in Spirit Square in Campbell River and will raise awareness of the overdose crisis in our community and beyond. The intention of this art project is to foster togetherness, dispel the stigma and discrimination of substance use, drug-poisoning, and mental health, and provide opportunities for connection, creative expression, and greater senses of community. Education, support, and prevention of overdose are important features of this art project, as are the unique experiences of the participants and opportunities to honour loved ones. This project invites community members to weave small squares on supplied looms that will be knit together and provide reflections that will be woven into a community poem.
Sarah Delaney-Spindler, Senior Manager, AVI Health and Community Services, Campbell River says, “IOAD to AVI Health and Community Services is a day to remember all the lives lost to the unregulated supply of toxic drugs and acknowledge that this is still a very real crisis affecting our community. We look forward to engaging with our Campbell River community on IOAD for allyship, education, and remembrance, as well as conversations on where we can continue to work together to support those so affected.”
The Community Action Team and their partners invite the public to come down to Overdose Awareness Day, learn about local resources, and participate in the community art and memorial projects. More information about the Community Action Team can be found at www.communityactioncr.ca
