MONTICELLO –– A crowd of over 100 people gathered in front of the Lawrence H. Cooke Courthouse in Monticello on Wednesday evening to commemorate International Overdose Awareness Day.

Recognized each year on August 31, the day seeks to galvanize public support to end deadly drug overdoses, dismantle the stigma surrounding those who’ve suffered and died, and acknowledge the grief of families and friends left behind.

Monticello’s Vigil was organized by Sullivan 180. People gathered together to, as Deputy Commissioner of Health and Human Services Wendy Brown said, hear of astounding statistics, lifesaving interventions, people suffering incredible loss and accounts of successful recovery.

“We’re a diverse group,” said Brown, who also co-chairs the Sullivan County Drug Task Force. “We are diverse in our backgrounds, our experiences, opinions and how the drug epidemic has impacted us all in one way or another … There is great strength in that diversity. Let us remember the diversity of that experience and utilize that strength.”

County Coroner Albee Bockman, who is also the Founder of Mobilemedic EMS, said they were there Wednesday night to educate, assist and support the effort to end the opioid addiction epidemic impacting communities across America.

Bockman said Sullivan County ranks first per capita in overdose cases in the Hudson Valley. Mobilemedic responds to over 30 overdose calls a month. That means over 300 a year and often more than one a day.

According to Bockman, less than 30 percent of those calls end with someone being transported to seek help.

“My purpose today is not to frighten anybody with these horrendous statistics, but to enlighten you with the need to educate our youth to the dangers of drugs, to guide those who seek assistance and support programs that will save lives and the horrors that families suffer from the death of a loved one,” Bockman said.

 One of those families is that of Kim Everett, nurse manager for inpatient detox and rehab at Bon Secours Community Hospital in Port Jervis. Everett said she wasn’t speaking that night as a nurse, but as a mother.

“I heard a long time ago that everybody is somebody’s somebody … This is my somebody,” Everett said, holding a framed picture of her son, Jesse, who passed away in 2019 after a years long struggle with a substance use disorder.

“Jessie was somebody to so many people … substance use disorder is a disease as surely as diabetes, as surely as high blood pressure, as surely as heart disease. The difference with this disease is the stigma that is attached to it.”

County Coroner Alan Kesten talked about how synthetic fentanyl has changed the war on drugs.

“The scope is far beyond us in Sullivan County yet we suffer like every other community in America,” Kesten said. “Tonight, however, is and should be focused on healing.”

Sullivan County resident Jessica Foschino’s story is one of healing. Foschino has been in recovery for the past nine and a half years.

“All the beautiful things in life come back to you in recovery. I feel very fortunate that I was able to make it there and not become one of Albee’s statistics,” she said.

District Attorney Meagan Galligan delivered her own message of “somber, but cautiously optimistic hope.”

She discussed her sister’s struggle with addiction, how it impacted their entire family and her eventual road to recovery.

“She is now the proud mother of two kids who were raised with the intense compassion for those who are suffering that only a person in recovery can have. They know the power of resilience because their mother came back from death’s door with a new appreciation for her own life and theirs.”

Free Narcan training preceded the event and more than a dozen information tables were set to offer resources and programs to help assist those in need.

Following the evening’s speakers, the Sullivan County Choir performed a moving rendition of Simon and Garfunkel’s “Bridge over Troubled Water,” as well as “Take this Honey,” composed by Chris Maunu.