VA North Texas marks milestone during Overdose Awareness Week
VA News ·
VA North Texas marked International Overdose Awareness Day with a week of remembrance and education.
International Overdose Awareness Day is the world’s largest campaign dedicated to ending overdose and honoring the lives lost to it. This year marks the 25th anniversary of the observance, with a 2026 theme of “25 Years On. Still Needed”—a reminder that despite a quarter-century of global awareness efforts, overdose continues to affect people from every walk of life.
VA North Texas Healthcare System joined the global community by hosting a weeklong series of events from Aug. 25–31 across its Dallas, Fort Worth and Bonham campuses. The observances offered Veterans, families, caregivers and staff a moment to reflect, learn and connect in recognition of the more than 4,000 lives lost to overdose in Texas last year.
Throughout the week, each campus planted purple flags, each representing a life cut short. The thousands of flags placed by volunteers, Veterans and staff created a striking reminder of the ongoing impact of overdose in our community.
“Our goal is to utilize these outreach events and candid conversations to highlight the importance of harm reduction and naloxone (Narcan), reduce stigma and extend a helping hand to a community that can be easily forgotten,” said Bo Hyung Song, clinical pharmacy specialist. “It is also our way of sending a message to our Veterans that are struggling: peace, hope and recovery can be part of everyone’s journey.”
Staff across all campuses wore purple to symbolize solidarity and support, and they operated origami folding stations for participants to craft handmade purple cranes, each signifying hope, remembrance and resilience. Later, they held moments of silence for quiet reflection, community grieving and collective healing among.
A core focus of the week was harm reduction. Veterans were able to request naloxone, and staff were available to offer guidance, education and support without judgment. These conversations reassured Veterans facing substance use challenges that they are not alone within the VA community.
“Every person we lose to overdose is more than a statistic,” said Shaina Varughese, inpatient psychiatric clinical pharmacist practitioner. “They were someone’s loved one, someone’s friend and someone with a life and future. International Overdose Awareness Day is a time to remember them, to support the people who are still affected and to recognize that there is still work to be done. Their stories deserve to be heard.”
VA North Texas’ International Overdose Awareness Day events served not only as a memorial but as an ongoing commitment to harm reduction, greater naloxone access and reducing stigma around substance use. As the observance marks its 25th year, the message carries added weight: overdose prevention is still needed, and no life lost is only a number—their stories, lives and futures matter.