LEXINGTON, Ky. — Above an empty chair inside Voices of Hope’s restoration group heart in Lexington are the faces of individuals misplaced to overdose.
The chalkboard reads, “This chair symbolizes the vacancy felt once we lose a beloved one from an overdose.”
It’s an vacancy Ashley Berkshire is aware of.
“It was simply absolutely the worst factor that I’ve ever skilled, like, I by no means ever would have thought that like I’d have the ability to make it via it,” she advised Spectrum Information 1.
Berkshire, this system coordinator for Voices of Hope, is a Lexington mom in restoration from dependancy.
She misplaced her boyfriend Danny to an overdose in 2020; she stated.
“It’s not likely one thing you may perceive until you’ve gone via that and so having that group of individuals all simply come collectively means so much,” stated Berkshire.
The pictures are a part of the Empty Chair Marketing campaign for Overdose Consciousness Day, on show on the heart and on the Voices of Hope Fb web page. August is Overdose Consciousness Month.
A state report reveals 2,250 folks died from a drug overdose in Kentucky final 12 months, an almost 15% enhance from 2020.
“We’re simply attempting to remind people who it’s not only a quantity, that these folks had been youngsters, fathers, moms, brothers they usually all have tales which are very invaluable and it’s not only a quantity on a web page, that they’ve worth to their life and there’s an vacancy that’s left in these households after they’re gone,” stated David Brumett, this system supervisor.
Voices of Hope hosts conferences and assist teams and provide what are referred to as hurt discount provides, like strips to check substances for fentanyl and the overdose-reversing drug Narcan.
“I feel that each single particular person ought to have Narcan,” stated Berkshire. “I imply, if it might save only one life, it’s value it.”
