On Wednesday, August 31, 2022, from 5:30 p.m. to 6 p.m., Healthy Acadia’s INSPIRE Recovery Center, located at 24 Church St. Ellsworth, will host an International Overdose Awareness Day event to remember and honor the lives lost to overdose, and to support the families and friends impacted. A candlelight vigil will be held in the INSPIRE parking lot. 

Substance use overdoses continue to rise in Maine and across the country.  In 2021, there were more than 600 deaths in Maine attributed to overdose and in the first 5 months of 2022, Maine saw an increase of about 10%. Every one of those lives was someone’s mother, father, brother, sister, child, cousin or friend. The losses are felt in the families and the communities where they lived, and have changed the face of the future for those who knew them. 

In addition to the candlelight vigil, 56 pairs of shoes will serve to represent the 56 lives lost to overdose in Hancock County from 2017-2021 and a memory board will provide a space for community members to share images and remembrances of friends and loved ones lost to overdose. Community members will also speak to the impact of overdose in our community, offer a moment of silence, and Healthy Acadia will have harm reduction resources available including Naloxone and Fentanyl Test Strips.