HOPE - Halt Overdose through Prevention and Education

This is an overdose awareness display. It is a visual memorial showing the devastation of the Opioid Epidemic in Canada.

Claim ownership or report listing

Halt Overdose Through Prevention and Education

My husband and I, lost our older son, Matthew, on November 5, 2017 as a result of a fentanyl overdose. Our younger son, Joshua, lost his older brother.

Matthews struggles started after a serious accident. He was a cross fit trainer and managed a gym till the day he died.

The profound sorrow of our child dying compares to nothing I have ever experienced in my life. Not only did we have to endure the devastating loss of our son Matthew but quickly realized the magnitude of society’s stigma, shame and misinformation associated with substance use.

I decided to take action, with help from my community we made a visual/memorial display about the devastation of this crisis.

Each tiny piece of yarn is an overdose death, 2017 in Canada, 3987 people. The white flag represents a person predicted to die this week in Canada and flags with names are actual names of loved ones who have died available at time of making. We had to cut names off within an hour of asking for names on facebook in order to keep the limit to 100 flags. With signs stating information from stats Canada, including: it is officially the number one cause of of men 39 years and because of the severity of this crisis it has altered the life expectancy rate in Canada.

This display is powerful, non-political, informative, yet peaceful. Community support is needed to continue increasing awareness of this health epidemic and to break down the stigma attached to this silent killer.

It’s time to take notice and break the silence.

Videos (show all)

Website

facebook.com