SOS Berks Recognizes International Overdose Awareness Day with Flag Raising Ceremony in the City of Reading

from SOS Berks

An estimated 25 people gathered at City Park in Reading on Monday, Aug. 26, for a flag-raising ceremony in recognition of International Overdose Awareness Day, which takes place annually on Aug. 31.

The event was organized by the SOS Berks Opioid Coalition in partnership with the City of Reading. The flag will fly for seven days in honor of those who have lost their lives to an overdose.

The ceremony featured speeches by state, county, and local officials who spoke of the toll overdose deaths have taken on our communities and the work being done to fight stigma and end overdoses. It began with an invocation and a moment of silence led by Pastor Tom Scornavacchi.

Speakers included PA State Senator Judy Schwank; Berks County Commissioner Michael Rivera; Reading Mayor Eddie Morán; Chief of Addiction Medicine, Tower Health, Dr. William Santoro; and Kathleen Strain, from the Partnership to End Addiction.

Strain, a member of SOS Berks who lost a nephew to an overdose, raised the flag at the close of the ceremony. She spoke tearfully about that loss, and provided some sobering numbers on overdose deaths.

“Here in Pennsylvania we’re losing someone every two hours,” Strain said. “The hour we have spent here speaking, 13 people across the United States have died.”

Senator Schwank spoke of the damaging stigma associated with substance use disorder, which can keep people from seeking treatment and force families who have lost loved ones to suffer in silence. Events like the flag raising ceremony help to break stigma, she noted.

“Here in Berks County we’ve done a lot to end that stigma,” she said. “We don’t turn our backs on people who need us the most.”

International Overdose Awareness Day is the world’s largest annual campaign to end overdose, remember without stigma those who have died, and acknowledge the grief of family and friends left behind, according to overdoseday.com. The theme for 2024 is “Together, we can.”

Commissioner Rivera, who is the co-chair of the SOS Berks Opioid Coalition, referenced that theme.

“We are here today because we stand together with you. We are here today because you matter, and we support you,” he said.

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Source: bctv