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Spectrum Health Marks International Overdose Awareness Day:
Annual Free Event Scheduled for August 26
Spectrum Health and Human Services will present the fourth annual Not One More: Stand Together to End Overdose, a free evening of remembrance and information on Monday, August 26, 5pm to 8pm at Veterans Memorial Park in West Seneca (1250 Union Rd. behind the Town Hall).
This free and family-friendly event is a community collaboration to commemorate International Overdose Awareness Day, a global initiative to raise awareness and remember lives lost.
Friends and family members are invited to bring a photograph of a loved one who lost their life to overdose: these photos will be added to custom-made “We Remember Them” banner designed by Spectrum Health’s Kristina Moore, RN. The banner will hang in the Town of West Seneca Community Center Atrium on selected days.
The popular local band The Kensingtons will perform on the Lions Club bandshell. The Kensingtons are well-known in music circles for regular appearances on popular stages and community awareness events.
Representatives from 13 local agencies will also be there with resources, including Erie County’s Department of Health Harm Reduction team, Crisis Services, Spectrum Health’s Buffalo H.O.P.E. COMPHS, Endeavor Health Services, BestSelf, Save the Michaels of the World, Inc., Horizon Health Services, VA WNY Healthcare Services, and Narcotics Anonymous.
There will also be family activities, including the “Imagination Playground” from the Explore & More – The Ralph C. Wilson, Jr. Children’s Museum, “Y on the Fly” from the YMCA Buffalo Niagara, and the Healthy Cruiser from Highmark Blue Cross Blue Shield of WNY
The event is sponsored by Five Star Bank, Highmark Blue Cross & Blue Shield, The New 96.1, Buffalo Spree Publications, and WGRZ.
Also on Tuesday, August 20, representatives from Spectrum Health’s Medication Assisted Treatment program will be in Larkin Square at Food Truck Tuesday to distribute Narcan kits and provide information and training.
For more information, visit www.shswny.org.
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Spectrum Health and Human Services provides mental health, addiction, rehabilitation, care coordination, housing, and crisis services in locations throughout Western New York. Founded in 1973, it is also a Certified Community Behavioral Health Center (CCBHC). Visit www.shswny.org for more information.
