Overdose Awareness Event to Be Held in Centralia

Aug. 27—Community Integrated Health Services (CIHS) of Lewis County is partnering with Gather Church in Centralia to host an overdose awareness event at Riverside Park, 313 Lowe St., Centralia, from 11:30 a.m. to 1:30 p.m. on Aug. 31.

CIHS is a Washington-based behavioral health organization that provides peer counselors, services for those suffering from substance use disorder (SUD) and general outpatient services among a long list of other offerings. Its partner for this event, Gather Church, runs a "Meds First Clinic" in Centralia, providing medication that can reduce cravings to use opioids while diminishing withdrawal effects.

At Tuesday's event, vendors will be set up to provide a variety of services, including Chehalis Tribe'sBehavioral Health, Valley View Health Center, Eugenia Center, the Centralia Prevention Coalition and many others.

Narcan will be distributed and there will be education for attendees on the potentially life-saving medication that can treat narcotic overdoses in emergencies.

"The opioid epidemic is very well alive. It's increased over the last few years, especially now with the pandemic. And we're trying to figure out how do we get resources and support to those who kind of got lost out there," said Christine Semanko, the regional SUD clinical supervisor at CIHS.

The event has no specific target audience. Anyone is welcome, because anyone might be around someone, or be someone, who is suffering from SUD at some point in time.

At noon, there will be a speaker and a prayer from Gather.

"I just really appreciate what Gather does for the community. We serve a lot of the same folks. Just the resources and non-judgemental support that they give the population, they suit up and show up, they go out there, they meet people where they're at. They're just amazing," Semanko said.

At 12:30 p.m., lunch will be served. There will then be a balloon release ceremony with biodegradable balloons.

According to Semanko, CIHS is committed to helping folks achieve self-acceptance and self-empowerment in order to bring about positive change in their own lives. But that has to start with access to necessary programs. The hope is for this to become an annual event, because it provides a unique opportunity to bring many community resources to one place.

"We are worthy of recovery. It could be the first time or the 50th time, it doesn't matter. As long as they're drawing breath, there's always hope for the hopeless," Semanko said.

Pastor Cole Meckle from Gather Church stated four points that motivated the creation of this event, which are remembering those who have died from overdose, raising awareness of overdose prevalence, educating individuals on what is available in the case of overdose and trying to combat stigmas that might prevent someone from having necessary resources in those cases.

The threat of death is not enough of a motivator to get people to stop using, according to Meckle.

Some have argued to him that the existence of Narcan only makes overdosing less dangerous and therefore more likely. He hopes events like the one set for Tuesday can play a role in disputing that, saying he believes the only thing powerful enough to bring someone through recovery is hope, not fear.

"Ultimately what does transpire in the beginnings of hope is people can imagine a life worth living," he said.

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