Windsor-Essex opioid awareness campaign aims to bring community together, end stigma - Action News
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Windsor

Windsor-Essex opioid awareness campaign aims to bring community together, end stigma

A month long campaign, which kicked off Saturday, is raising awareness for the ongoing opioid crisis. Community members are welcome to come together at All Saints Church in Windsor and plant a cross for loved ones lost to an opioid overdose.

We know big or small, everybodys affected, says campaign organizer

Denise Romanovich, campaign manager of Reaching for the Stars Optimist Club (left), Melissa Nespolon, charter president of Reaching for the Stars Optimist Club (middle) and Tina Poisson, vice president of Reaching for the Stars Optimist Club (right) are spearheading the You Are Not Alone! Opioid awareness campaign. (Chris Ensing/CBC)

A month-long community-led campaign for families whose loved ones have died from the opioid crisis began Saturday.

You Are Not Alone!,organized by Reaching for the Stars Optimist Club of Windsor Essex County, aims to raise awareness forthe opioid crisis and offer a space for family, friends and community members to gather and remember loved ones who have diedbecause of it.

"The crisis that has taken over has been unbelievable. If it hasn't hit your backyard, you don't know what is really happening," said Melissa Nespolon, charter president of Reaching for the Stars Optimist Club.

Each Saturday in August,community members are invited to gather at All Saints Anglican Church to place a cross for each person who has died.

The campaign is supported byPozitive Pathways, Brentwood,Canadian Mental Health Association and Grieving Families.

Nespolon is one of the campaign's organizers. Last year, herbrother Joe Newman, 34, died froman opioid overdose. His cross was the first one planted on Saturday.

"He was just that guy. When he was on, he was on," Nespolon said.

We dont want to just reach for the youth, we want to see whats impacting it, Melissa Nespolon said. Reaching for the Stars Optimist Club aims to provide youth with resources and pathways for healthy life choices. (Chris Ensing/CBC)

Newman was a registered practical nurse, father of two sons and struggled with an opioid addiction. According to Nespolon, Newman had completed a residential treatment program six weeks before he died, but after returning to the community he could not access the out-patient support to help him fight his addiction.

"We need more help, more education, more support," Nespolon said. "We're losing too many people and we haven't put enough focus on it."

Last year, Windsor-Essex hit a record 348 overdoses and 64 people died.In 2019, there were249 overdoses and 48 deaths.

'There is such a stigma'

"I just want people to know that we've lost way too many people to this because they can't figure out how to get out of the cycle," said Nespolon.

Denise Romanovich, campaign manager of Reaching for the Stars Optimist Club, said she wishes more people felt comfortable asking for support.

"What bothers me is there is such a stigma to having to admit they need help," Romanovich said."We have to accept who we are as individuals to move forward."

With files from Chris Ensing