The congressman said the Thomas Bloom Raskin Act, signed into law in April, will help people struggling with mental health issues who may have substance use disorders. Raskin said many young people have experienced anxiety and depression during the pandemic. He thanked organizers for hosting the event “to uplift the public health and mental health and particularly the resiliency and the strength of young people, who are struggling to deal with a very tough time.” His son, Tommy, died by suicide on New Year’s Eve last year at 25 years old. Jamie Raskin said he knows what it is like to suffer the unbelievable loss of a child. The center offers 64 residential beds for substance use disorder treatment, as well as outpatient treatment services. Crowel noted the county opened the Avery Road Treatment Center in Rockville in June. The team continues to provide Narcan training and free Narcan kits. The Overdose Intervention Team organized community awareness campaigns and developed training series for prescribers of opiate medications. He said the county regrouped in the face of the pandemic and made efforts to meet resident needs. There is increased anxiety and depression, Crowel said, and it is harder to maintain access to treatment and some have been led to or returned to substance use and self harm. But COVID has taken us to some new heights and some new awareness of this, I think.” “The close relation between mental health and substance use disorder is real and known. “We’ve known about that for a long time,” Crowel said. Raymond Crowel said anyone who has faced addiction understands how dangerous isolation can be. She also called for a strong coalition of families for substance use awareness, similar to Mothers Against Drunk Driving (MADD), she urged.Ĭounty Health and Human Services Director Dr. Suarez said families need better education about substance use disorders so those suffering and their families can have reliable information and make good decisions. The county says more than 60% of overdose deaths have been fentanyl-related since 2016. I miss her laughter… her silliness, our dancing together.” She was a Churchill High School graduate and died of an accidental fentanyl-laced overdose. She said her daughter endured a trauma in 2017 and was later introduced to crack cocaine while mentally vulnerable. Opioid overdose deaths increased 29% in 2020 compared to 2019, according to the county.Įlena Suarez said she lost her daughter, Colette, exactly one year ago on Aug. In 2020, there were 108 opioid drug overdose deaths in Montgomery County. for overdose deaths last year, speakers shared. (Surviving Our Ultimate Loss) partnered with Montgomery County to host the event Thursday evening. All my love, Tommy.Residents and families who have lost loved ones to substance use joined the sixth annual International Overdose Awareness Day Event and candlelight vigil at the Memorial Plaza in Rockville. Please look after each other, the animals, and the global poor for me. “He left us this farewell note ‘Please forgive me. Unfortunately, Jamie and Sarah Bloom Raskin narrated, “Tommy began to be tortured later in his 20s by a blindingly painful and merciless disease called depression, a kind of relentless torture in the brain for him, and despite very fine doctors and a loving family and friendship network of hundreds who adored him beyond words and whom he adored too, the pain became overwhelming and unyielding and unbearable. He also cheerfully opposed sectarian holier-than-thou sanctimoniousness among a handful of vegans he met and would say, ‘I’m working for a vegan world, not a vegan club.’” “He recruited gently and lovingly - but supremely effectively - dozens and dozens of people, including his parents,” Jamie and Sarah Bloom Raskin added, “to the practice of not eating animals, and it will be hard to find anyone his age who has turned more carnivores into vegans than him. “I’m working for a vegan world, not a vegan club”
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