Video campaign by Sudbury's hospital bring awareness to addiction

In light of International Overdose Awareness Day, the hospital in Sudbury has decided to bring attention to the issue through a series of videos to be released this week. (Photo from video)

Sudbury -

In light of International Overdose Awareness Day, the hospital in Sudbury has decided to bring attention to the issue through a series of videos to be released this week.

The first, out Tuesday, features a recovering addict, Samuel Wynne-Mcaughey. He was a successful paramedic but following the death of his father, he began using drugs to cope with PTSD caused by childhood trauma and things he saw on the job.

“It wasn’t very long -- it took about six weeks before I lost absolutely everything and was living out here on these streets,” said Wynne-Mcaughey.

He was an IV drug user for 10 years. Now sober for more than two years, he is sharing his story in hopes that others will access the services that he did.

“It’s a full on team effort -- no one can do this by themselves,” said Wynne-Mcaughey. "You need to grab from your network of help."

Jamie Grimshaw is a social worker at Health Sciences North and part of her role there is to create a discharge plan for patients leaving the addiction management unit at the hospital.

“I think the whole point of this campaign is to give you a sneak peek to see what I get to see every day," Grimshaw said.

"I get to see the person. I get to see everything that’s going on in their lives, so I think that these videos are going to help bring some understanding, some compassion and hopefully education to our community surrounding what it is that people who are living with substance use problems want and need."

Grimshaw said from addiction counselling to withdrawal management, HSN offers several programs to help people with mental health and addiction issues, as well as their loved ones.

Meantime Wynne-Mcaughey said another program is coming to Sudbury next spring called Teen Challenge. It is an in-residence drug and alcohol rehabilitation program for men that he said will hopefully accommodate up to 16 people at a time.

He credits the program for his own sobriety, and said it was instrumental in his recovery.