TIMMINS - When Cory Proctor woke up in the hospital, he thought he should have had a toe tag on.
“I was in a hallway with nobody around, I didn’t know where I was,” he said. “Got up off the gurney, found the front door and it took me two days to find where I was living in a town I don’t know, with nobody, no family, friends, nothing. And the person you thought should have been there left you.”
He came to Timmins with a friend, but when he overdosed, they left him outside the doors of the original Living Space location on Cedar Street North.
“They left me dead on the sidewalk,” he said. “Without going through that, I think I’d either still be in a ditch or it would have been the toe tag.”
Now sober, Proctor wants people to know that help exists, but more could always be done.
“Giving back, I can’t give enough,” he said.
International Overdose Awareness Day (IOAD) on Aug. 31 gives those who have lost someone to toxic drug supply and overdoses a chance to gather, share their stories and remember the people they care about.
While the Timmins event at Gillies Lake was canceled due to concerns about the weather, the IOAD committee is looking for dates to hold a future event.
This year’s theme — Together We Can — is meant to highlight what can be accomplished when communities stand together. The first IOAD was in 2001, put together by Sally J. Finn in Australia.
“Today’s a saving grace,” Proctor said. “It’s good to be alive. Without facilities like DIY, and the treatment centre, I wouldn’t be here at all.”
IOAD events bring together people who have been affected by the drug crisis, as well as those who have lost friends and family, those working on the front lines and offers support to those still looking for help.
“It’s really about raising awareness about the crisis that is going on, not only locally, but in our province, across the country and really, around the world,” said Jason Sereda, who's with DIY Community Health Timmins and on the IOAD organizing committee.
“It’s a day for us all to talk, remember, share stories and support each other.”
Proctor said he’s lucky not to be among those lost to the crisis.
“Down south I can be in six different NA meetings a day, from 8 in the morning to 10 at night,” he said. “There are people out there that are left out there, not knowing where to go, not knowing how to find help. It’s not out there enough, it should be bold and smacked in front of your face.”
In 2020, 2021, and 2023, there were 40 opioid toxicity deaths in the Porcupine Health Unit region. In 2022 there were 30 deaths and in the first quarter of this year there were 15 deaths.
The Office of the Chief Coroner (OCC) for Ontario data for 2022-24 are preliminary and include confirmed and probable cases.
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The tools available to help people with addictions are always changing and DIY Community Health has teamed with Hummingbird, an app that connects people in the community to outreach workers when conflicts arise.
“We have some good data from the last two months,” said Sereda. “We’ve cleaned up over 2,000 needles, we’ve met with over 68 unique individuals, and really we’re finding that being out there and talking to people helps to build that trust.”
The battle against stigma and judgmental attitudes is something many people with addictions or who are homeless face, said Jason Brown.
“There’s barely anything for homelessness, for healthcare, for mental health, addiction,” he said. “We’re human beings.”
He said he hopes people and governments will recognize the people involved in these issues.”
