{"id":85370,"date":"2025-08-21T04:40:11","date_gmt":"2025-08-21T04:40:11","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/85370\/"},"modified":"2025-08-21T04:40:11","modified_gmt":"2025-08-21T04:40:11","slug":"island-health-to-set-up-memorial-stations-for-international-overdose-awareness-day","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/85370\/","title":{"rendered":"Island Health to set up memorial stations for International Overdose Awareness Day"},"content":{"rendered":"<p>International Overdose Awareness Day (IOAD)\u00a0 is occurring on Aug. 31 under the theme \u201cOne Big Family.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>The theme was selected as a reminder to honour the victims and support impacted individuals of the ongoing toxic drug poisoning crisis through care and compassion.<\/p>\n<p>According to Island Health, toxic drug deaths remain the second-leading cause of overall potential years of life lost, behind cancer. They are the leading cause of death among the 19-59 age bracket. <\/p>\n<p>\u201cWe are nine years into the B.C. toxic drug crisis, and it is unrelenting,\u201d says Island Health board chair Leah Hollins.<\/p>\n<p>Already, in the first half of 2025, 163 people across Vancouver Island regions have had their lives claimed by unregulated drug poisoning.\u00a0<\/p>\n<p>IOAD is the globe\u2019s most significant campaign effort to raise further awareness about the impact of the toxic drug poisoning crisis.\u00a0<\/p>\n<p>READ PREVIOUS: <a href=\"https:\/\/cheknews.ca\/overdose-prevention-naloxone-cardiac-arrest-training-added-to-b-c-curriculum-this-fall-1272205\/\" rel=\"nofollow noopener\" target=\"_blank\">Overdose prevention, naloxone, cardiac arrest training added to B.C. curriculum this fall<\/a><\/p>\n<p>Starting Aug. 25, purple chairs as well as memorial exhibits with resources, purple ribbon pins and an interactive memory board will be stationed at 18 Island Health service locations. <\/p>\n<p>These stations span across eight regions on Vancouver Island: Campbell River, Nanaimo, Oceanside, Comox Valley, Port Alberni, Duncan, Westshore, and Victoria.\u00a0<\/p>\n<p>\u201cPurple has long been used as the colour to represent lives lost to the ongoing global crisis,\u201d commented Hollins.\u00a0<\/p>\n<p>\u201cThese purple chairs symbolize the loved ones lost, providing a quiet space for rest, reflection and remembrance.\u201d<br \/>\u00a0<br \/>Dr. R\u00e9ka Gustafson, vice president of population and public health and chief medical officer at Island Health, says, \u201cThese deaths are preventable\u201d and require further support beyond health care services, such as investments in income, education, housing, and social connection.\u00a0<\/p>\n<p>Oceanside Community Action Team and Moms Stop the Hate are hosting their own Candlelight Vigil on Aug. 31 from 4 to 8 p.m. at the Community Park picnic shelter in Parksville.<\/p>\n<p>Corey Ranger, president and clinical director of the Harm Reduction Nurses Association (HRNA) at AVID Health and Community Services, will speak alongside Greg Hemminger, harm reduction project coordinator for Tailgate Toolkit.<\/p>\n<p>Attendance is free.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"International Overdose Awareness Day (IOAD)\u00a0 is occurring on Aug. 31 under the theme \u201cOne Big Family.\u201d The theme&hellip;\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":85371,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[34],"tags":[49,48,84,392],"class_list":["post-85370","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-healthcare","tag-ca","tag-canada","tag-health","tag-healthcare"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/85370","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=85370"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/85370\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/85371"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=85370"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=85370"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=85370"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}