Marion overdose victims remembered for Overdose Awareness Day in viral video

After losing her husband to a drug overdose over two years ago, Brittany Foster made a Facebook video for International Overdose Awareness Day remembering lives lost to overdoses in Marion.

She asked family and friends of overdose victims to submit photos on Facebook to be compiled into a video. Now, after 383 shares, 90 comments and more than 1,400 views as of Sept. 8, the video has gone viral.

The COVID-19 pandemic has led to significant increase in overdose numbers across the country, including in Marion County, with nine more fatal overdoses and 28 more nonfatal overdoses in 2020 as compared to 2019 in Marion.

This comes as Gov. DeWine observed the first Ohio Overdose Awareness Day on Aug. 31 after designating the day with Senate Bill 30 to raise public awareness and remember the lives lost to the opioid epidemic, the leading cause of injury death in Ohio, according to the DeWine's office

Foster said she has seen support for the video among family members of overdose victims in the video.

“A lot of people in the video’s families reached out to thank me for not letting them be forgotten,” she said.

A mother tells her son's story

Erin Winans, a mother of an overdose victim included in the video, said she thought it was awesome that Foster made the video to help remember loved ones like her son, Alex Buckner.

"A lot of them are kids, and they are so young and had so much ahead of them," Winans said.

It will be three years in January since Winans lost Alex to overdose at only 19 years old. He had only been using drugs about six months before he died.

"It happened so quick. And parents have no idea what kids are out getting into," Winans said.

Alex was a great kid who loved to make people laugh and smile. His death was unexpected for his family members, who were unaware of his drug use, and a reminder that overdose could happen to anyone.

"Just because they made a bad choice, a really terrible choice, does not make them a bad person. My son was not a bad person, just made a horrible mistake."

Foster hopes the video she made will help change the negative perception commonly held for overdose victims and allow people struggling with addiction to seek help.

“Reach out and get help. There’s all kinds of help out there. It comes down to a point where you want to get help,” she said. 

One treatment facility, Pinnacle Treatment Center, located at 1581 Marion-Waldo Road, just celebrated its first anniversary of being an addiction resource to the Marion community after opening last year.

Jennifer Morgenstern, Pinnacle’s regional director for the state of Ohio, said the treatment center received a very warm welcome from the Marion community, maintaining a great working relationship with the Crawford-Marion ADAMH (Alcohol, Drug, Addiction and Mental Health) Board.

“We meet patients where they are with personalized treatment to celebrate achieving small goals,” said Morgenstern. “Then we can say, ‘look what you’ve already achieved, let’s do more.’”

According to Morgenstern, the facility plans to have an event to celebrate one year of being open to Marion residents, but it is temporarily on hold due to COVID-19.

To watch Foster's viral video, visit her Facebook page.