Ninety-five–the number of pages in the tribute section at overdoseday.com. Ninety-five pages of collected tributes to those who have died due to drug overdose. As one scrolls through the countless stories of loved ones lost–mothers, fathers, sisters, brothers, friends, and lovers–a thousand anguished voices seem to cry out in unison, “yes, there is life after death and it is we who are left behind to live it.”
August 31st is International Overdose Awareness Day, a campaign initiated in 2001 to raise awareness about overdose and to commemorate those taken by it too soon. When the annual event began in 2001, there were 19,394 overdose deaths in the United States alone. Now, some twenty years later, that number has ballooned to an unimaginable 94,134 deaths. Sadly, making this day more relevant now than it was at its inception. It is not simply a tragedy. It is a public health crisis of pandemic proportion.
To put it into perspective we have only to look back to the H1N1 pandemic of 2009, when 12,469 Americans lost their lives to that virus. In the same year, more than 37,000 Americans died of overdose. By now the number of overdose deaths has nearly tripled. We can do better. We have to. Because ninety-five pages of heartbroken tributes is ninety-five too many. Remember them and act.
For more information about International Overdose Awareness Day, please visit overdoseday.com.
Media Contact:
Nancy Buttyan
Nancy.Buttyan@bhgrecovery.com
214-918-1811
About BHG
Behavioral Health Group (BHG) is a fast-growing healthcare company creating a new class of recovery center for individuals with substance use disorder (SUD). BHG specializes in medication-assisted recovery (MAR) combined with addiction counseling delivered through the largest network of Joint Commission-accredited outpatient treatment and recovery centers in the U.S. Founded in 2006 and led by an experienced executive team with deep experience in the healthcare and behavioral health industries, BHG believes that comprehensive, evidence-based, personalized treatment plans focused on real recovery restore lives, strengthen families, and rejuvenate the communities in which we serve. BHG capabilities include a full range of counseling and behavioral health therapies for individual, family, and group counseling, medication-assisted recovery, intensive outpatient programs, mental health services, case management, and community resource coordination services delivered in its treatment centers and through telehealth. BHG treatment centers provide access to all FDA-approved medications through in-center dosing or prescriptions programs. BHG accepts Medicare, Medicaid, most major commercial health plans, and works with state grants to support patients who choose to self-pay. With 117 locations in 24 states, BHG has more than 2,100 employees who serve more than 43,000 patients. To learn more, visit bhgrecovery.com.