Survivors champion ‘support, not stigma’ during overdose awareness event

A group of people placed small purple lights atop two large boulders bearing a pair of boots and a pair of red heels during a Las Vegas vigil capping an International Overdose Awareness Day event last week.

As the sun set, attendees gathered around the small memorial now awash in purple light. Some wiped tears from their eyes, while others hugged, as they remembered loved ones lost to drug overdoses and tied small purple ribbons to a tree while two musicians played “Purple Rain” and “Amazing Grace.”

Jennifer Pimentel placed a ribbon on a branch in remembrance of a friend who died. Pimentel said she herself had struggled with substances but has been sober for two years. “So this really hits home for me.”

More than 600 people died from an overdose in Clark County in 2021. Opioids accounted for 59.5 percent of those deaths, said Chelsi Cheatom, co-chair of the Southern Nevada Harm Reduction Alliance, which hosted the event for the sixth time.

Before the vigil, a program took place on the basketball court at the Chuck Minker Sports Complex, with speakers and training on how to deal with or avoid overdose emergencies.

“I’m hoping that people learn that overdose is preventable,” Cheatom said just before the Wednesday night event began.

‘Soles for Souls’

On one end of the court, dozens of pairs of shoes were lined up neatly. They were part of an interactive art exhibit called “Soles for Souls” in which the shoes symbolized those who died from an overdose in 2021.

“We created a shoe donation drive and with the help of the alliance members and the agencies they work for were able to meet our first goal of 369 shoes to represent the lives lost to opioid overdose,” alliance member Michele Jorge said.

She invited those in attendance to take a pair for themselves or for an agency that could use them.

Any remaining pairs were to be donated to local charities, according to alliance member and chair of the International Overdose Awareness Day event Chris Reynolds.

He said the alliance collected more than 400 pairs of shoes.

‘Support not stigma’

About 200 people attended the event, where they also could pick up overdose prevention kits and visit with treatment and recovery agencies.

Nyla Christian, who emceed the program, told the Review-Journal that addiction is often misunderstood.

“I think that people generally believe that addiction is a moral failing. It is not. Addiction is actually a disease.” said Christian, who is the founder and CEO of The Living Well Project, a community recovery organization. She has been in recovery for 15 years and has been a recovery advocate for that entire time.

Misconceptions persist about those who are addicted to drugs, Christian said. Often, they fail to include groups such as professional people, youth and the elderly, she said.

“The reason that the recovery movement began anonymously is because of course people believed that if you have had a behavioral health, mental health or substance use disorder challenge, obviously you’re weak, you don’t have willpower, it’s a socio-economic issue, it is a race or ethnic issue. There’s all these different misconceptions,” Christian said.

Events such as International Overdose Awareness Day serve an important purpose, she said.

“Things like this, when you engage internationally in an awareness around something that’s really a hush-hush sort of thing, what you’re doing is you’re pushing support, not stigma,” Christian said.

‘Trusting the journey’

Paul Vautrinot was one of several who gave personal accounts of their own experiences with addiction and overdose.

Vautrinot, who now works with Shine a Light, a nonprofit homeless outreach and placement service, said he spent nine years addicted to heroin. Three of those years were spent living in the flood drains and tunnels of Las Vegas. He said he has never overdosed but knows many people who have.

“The narrative around drugs for the last 40 years has been the war on drugs and there’s this stigma about it all that it’s a choice,” Vautrinot said. “For me, it’s about trying to provide the light at the end of the tunnel that this hopeless feeling can be met with hope if you continue to pursue and just not give up.”

Pimentel, who attended the event on behalf of The Cupcake Girls, an organization that supports sex industry workers, said she appreciated the sense of community and camaraderie at the event.

“Hearing that all our stories are so different but it’s not about step-by-step, doing this, that or the other,” she said. “It’s really just about trusting the journey and having people with you throughout that journey to really help you get all the way to the end.”

For more information, visit nvoverdoseday.com.

Contact David Wilson at dwilson@reviewjournal.com. Follow @davidwilson_RJ on Twitter.