Page 2 - ஓவர்டோஸ் விழிப்புணர்வு ம்யாநிடோப News Today : Breaking News, Live Updates & Top Stories | Vimarsana
Advocates honour those lost to overdoses in Manitoba, call for more supports
cbc.ca - get the latest breaking news, showbiz & celebrity photos, sport news & rumours, viral videos and top stories from cbc.ca Daily Mail and Mail on Sunday newspapers.
Overdose Awareness Manitoba places candles on Legislature steps to remember lives lost
winnipegsun.com - get the latest breaking news, showbiz & celebrity photos, sport news & rumours, viral videos and top stories from winnipegsun.com Daily Mail and Mail on Sunday newspapers.
Posted: Mar 05, 2021 5:00 AM CT | Last Updated: March 5
Dozens of black balloons and photos were tied to trees along Churchill Drive in Winnipeg s Lord Roberts neighbourhood to raise awareness about lives lost to drug overdoses in Manitoba in 2020. Phoebe Wilson, 31, died in July 2020.(John Einarson/CBC)
New data is showing signs of a steady rise in drug overdose deaths in Manitoba and renewing calls for action by the provincial government.
Between January and September 2020, 259 people died from overdoses in the province, which exceeds the number of drug-related deaths in all of 2019 by 35 per cent, according to the latest figures from province s chief medical examiner.
Each balloon represents a person who lost their life to drug use in the first six months of 2020, though final numbers for the year are currently not known. Sometimes we hear a number we re just trying to show how big that number is, said Rebecca Rummery with Overdose Awareness Manitoba. What we re here to do is just bring awareness and to show all these kids faces that we have lost, and to really humanize the issue of overdose and know that they are somebody s someone.
Rebecca Rummery co-founded Overdose Awareness Manitoba after losing her boyfriend to an overdose in 2018.(Travis Golby/CBC)
Article content
Judy Wasserman hopes that when people see the photos and names written on the black paper balloons on the trees along a stretch of Churchill Drive, they think about the many Manitobans who died due to overdose. She hopes they think about people like her brother Josh Zeller, who she lost to an accidental overdose just over two years ago.
“He struggled for many, many years,” said Wasserman, after affixing his photo and name on one of the trees. “We lost him two years ago on Feb. 26, 2019. In the last year or so of his life, he was really trying to get help and help is not readily available here unless you have a lot of money. He died on a wait list (for treatment). We work really hard to try to (get the message out that) we need treatment available and we need people to be able to ask for the help and not feel that stigma, not feel judged, not feel shame.
vimarsana © 2020. All Rights Reserved.