Worcester Hospital To Mark International Overdose Awareness Day With Ceremony

WORCESTER, MA — A hospital in Worcester is hosting a ceremony to mark International Overdose Awareness Day.

On Wednesday, UMass Memorial Health will hold a ceremony in honor of overdose awareness. Members of the public, health leaders and the Faust family, who lost their son to an accidental overdose, will join together at the event.

Dr. James Faust, former Chief of Anesthesia at Harrington Hospital, and Lisa Faust are the keynote speakers for the event. Their son, Adam Faust, who was in recovery, unknowingly ingested a substance laced with fentanyl and cocaine and died last year, according to a news release from the hospital.

Now, the family continues to be advocates for recovery resources, including the behavioral health and recovery programs at Harrington Hospital.

The ceremony is meant to end overdoses, remember those who have died and end the stigma associated with substance use disorders.

It will take place at 12 p.m. on the lawn at the hospital's Ambulatory Care Center, located at 55 N Lake Ave. The lawn will be covered in purple flags.