132 lost lives honored

Overdose Awareness Day recognized

The ADAS Board of Lorain County marked International Overdose Awareness Day with a ceremony honoring the 132 lives lost in Lorain County in 2017.

Lorain County resource partners, individuals and families affected by addiction and overdoses shared their stories at Lakeview Park on Aug. 31.

Elaine Georgas, executive director of the ADAS Board, encouraged expanding access to the opiate overdose reversal medication naloxone and continuing to build on progress made.

“We must support our emergency medicine providers to link patients to treatment. We must ensure that every evidence-based treatment is available use all the medications in our toolbox to treat this illness,” Georgas said. “We must strengthen and expand recovery services in the

community, the workplace, everywhere, and college campuses.”

In 2018, Lorain County overdose deaths are down and the cities of Lorain, Elyria, Avon and Avon Lake now have Opiate Overdose Response through the Lorain County Sheriff’s Office including police and medical personnel to assist those in need and direct them to recovery resources.

Georgas added while progress is being made, we need to challenge ourselves

to elevate the voices of patients and provide ongoing comprehensive support for those in recovery and their families.

“Over half of all American adults are related to someone with this disease. And yet the stigma of addiction leads families to suffer in silence and patients to fear seeking help,” Georgas said.

Kim Eberle of Lorain’s Let’s Get Real, a recovery community organization, stressed the need to treat people in recovery with compassion and build toward being able to talk about it more openly.

“We do this, this stigma.

I do it. You do it. Counselors do it. Treatment professionals do it. We all do it and we’re doing is hurting each other,” Eberle said. “When we do that we perpetuate the stigma.”

“This is a disease of addiction. The word is disease. And the only way to lessen the stigma is for all of us to really get that. Because it changes the whole face of what we’re doing for each other,” Eberle added.

Eberle said she was exceedingly proud of Lorain County organizations and their desire to work alongside one another in tackling the opioid crisis.

The ceremony leads

into National Recovery Month, now in its 29th year and used to educate Americans that substance abuse treatment and mental health services can enable those in need to live healthy and rewarding lives, along with celebrating the progress made by those in recovery.

The 2018 theme for National Recovery Month is “Join the Voices for Recovery: Invest in Health, Home, Purpose and Community.” It explores how integrated care, a strong community, sense of purpose and leadership can contribute to effective treatments that sustain recovery.