Evelyn Dove Coleman: Overdose Awareness Seminar
When I was required to take the swimming test as an incoming Freshman at UNC-Chapel Hill in 1972, I was encouraged to learn lifesaving techniques. Now decades later, I was taught another life-saving strategy in an overdose awareness seminar I was invited to cover. As the Facilitator, Dr. Wanda Boone, said, drugs are different today than they were many years ago. What people used to call "weed" on the streets has been replaced by deadly substances such as opiates and fentanyl. Marijuana was considered to be mellowing. Opinions differed even back then. However, these days, it is common knowledge that kids are dying from the illegal obtaining and use of opioids and fentanyl. Only the pushers are benefitting by making money.
Parents are having to bury their beloved children. Even those who can persuade their offspring to avoid the trap for a while, when they go off to school or to work, others influence them. Some who go astray find help in treatment or counseling. Others never find their way back. Sadly, many die from accidental overdoses. One may think that an overdose only occurs when a certain amount of a drug is ingested. At the seminar I attended, it was pointed out that combining alcohol and drugs is a deep culprit. Vaping pipes often have drugs in them. Energy drinks contain an alarming amount of alcohol. See the equation?
During the seminar, there were testimonies of recovery. I am trained to be confidential. So, I will simply say that it is a miracle that some who came close to dying of an overdose did not. It is also a miracle that some who hit rock bottom do get help to climb out of the dark hole of drug and alcohol addiction. I am grateful to have attended the seminar and to have met Dr. Wanda Boone of Duke https://dhwprograms.dukehealth.org/about/meet-the-team/wanda-boone/. She distributed helpful information about Naloxone and a book titled "Tear Soup" which helps those grieving loved ones. Naloxone can be obtained from pharmacies, doctors and the Health Department. It can reverse the effects of opioids and prevent deaths. Keep some on hand and you may save a life someday.
If you doubt that you may know someone you consider precious who is caught in the clasp of addiction, consider that I met a bright young man who was enrolled at the prestigious Durham School of the Arts. He had a dimpled smile that lit up the restaurant and a very devoted mother. I was stunned to learn that he had died of an accidental overdose. I saw no signs. Even if I had seen the signs of usage, it is so hard to convince someone to get help. Dr. Wanda Boone had some sound advice. Ask them, "How do you want to be remembered?"
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