In this episode, you’’ll hear Curtis Rajacich speaking with Lisa Gundlach about her friend Edmond who died from a fatal overdose.
Jenna Keeble 00:00
Unsilencing Stories is a podcast that reflects the voices of people in small towns and communities in Canada, who have lost loved ones to the toxic drug supply crisis. Since 2016. More than 30,000 people have died from fatal overdoses in Canada and that number continues to climb. The risk in smaller towns and communities is much higher than urban areas because of a lack of harm reduction services, and stigma against substance use and people who use drugs. This podcast is part of a community based participatory research project facilitated by Aaron Goodman, Ph.D., a faculty member at Kwantlen Polytechnic University in Surrey, B.C., along with students Jenna Keeble and Ashley Pocrnich.
The aim was to assist collaborators in publicly memorializing their loved ones and expressing grief as well as challenging silences imposed by dominant media organizations and stigma from society against substance use and people who use drugs. We hope these nuanced stories make it clear why the government needs to be doing more to prevent further deaths. Please note this podcast contains information about overdose death, grief and trauma that may be distressing to listen to. Please take care. In this episode, you'll hear Curtis Rajacich speaking of Lisa Gundlach in Prince George, B.C., about her friend Edmond who died from an opioid overdose.
Curtis 01:15
Last name, please.
Lisa 01:16
Lisa Gundlach.
Curtis 01:20
Where do you live?
Lisa 01:21
I live right now; I don't know what you would call it. It's not a shelter. But anyways, I live on, it's called Northern Breeze, right downtown. Where everything's happening, crazy. Prince George.
Curtis 01:36
Is there one person that you would like to talk about?
Lisa 01:41
Actually yeah, there is one. He lived in the building. He became a really good friend of mine.
Curtis 01:50
Take your time.
Lisa 01:51
I came home from work one night. He was in there prior. I said to him, "What are you doing here? Go home, like you don't need this shit". So, he did, and he wasn't around anybody that really knew anything about someone overdosing. So, I walked right by his frickin room, and his light was on, and I thought to myself maybe I should stop in and see if he's okay. But I had something to do that evening. So, when I got into the shower, I got in the shower, and I can hear all this screaming and crying. All of a sudden, I heard this “Bang bang bang” on my bathroom door, and I go, "Hold on!", like I’m trying to get out, and it's Laverne, the caretaker. She goes "Edmond’s gone" and I go, “What do you mean he's gone?” “He's gone, he died”.
He wasn't into that shit. It just kind of got into that like, right when the like town started opening again. I got him to come and do a few of the meetings we had and because he's really smart. I wondered if I didn't say, "Go home", maybe he would have just done it there and he would be okay today. But I can't take that on. I know that. It's hard. It's really hard, because I see his wife and she hates that place with whatever reason. She doesn't want to know those activities. She just knew her husband never did that shit ever. And I tried. Like I said, I'm not lying to her. She asked me like, you know, “You're dealing with deadly shit, dude.” He was crazy on it. One day, it'll do nothing for you and then the next day it will and that's it. It's all over. But that's it.
Curtis 03:49
Yeah, I didn't know. Like you said, I didn't really think he was into that heavy. But the last few months leading up to his passing. He was visibly doing more, I noticed. What was your first memory?
Lisa 04:05
When they were moving in, because I've known him a long time. I had left when I was a few years back right. Families kind of knew each other. My last memory of him was giving me shit. Telling me like, “Smarten up, Lise”. I just have to think, like put it in my head, he's in a better place, you know. And just keep on trying to save more lives. Overdose is still like the first. It's hard work in your whole brain. Yes, to focus on bringing that person to life. Not everything else that goes around it. So, it's over.
Yeah, but I've been doing this for three years now. I'm finding ways of how to protect myself. To not care because I really am doing all I can right now to help people to not die, educate people on the importance of having a Naloxone kit and knowing how to use it, and that they're not just some user low-like-rubbish. Because I'll tell you they never got up and said, “That's what I want to be when I grow up”. If we didn't do that. It’s just sad. It's really sad.
Curtis 05:35
Do you have any other stories that you want to share about Edmond, or anybody else that that was close to you?
Lisa 05:40
Edmond was the one that really affected me the most, because I got to know them, because of people in that building were just kind of like, we know everybody, right? He was against that shit, right from the get-go, had done a 360. Like that was kind of like, well, maybe I wonder maybe that wasn't the first time. I don't know. It just wasn't him. He didn't fit, He didn't fit it whatsoever. That's the one thing that bothered me because I know going from helping people and you get this little smile about him. Other people don't get me wrong, like the other people that I've known, like that have passed away from overdoses, I knew them, but I didn't know them. Edmond, I would have to say would be the closest because any other deaths I've had had nothing to do with the opioid overdose. So yeah, he's the first person that I knew personally.
Curtis 06:52
What’s helped the most with your grief?
Lisa 06:54
What I do, work. Work helps me, keeps me steady, focused on what I'm doing and why I'm doing it. Like helps me large because it is it's so stigmatized out there. It’s just definitely do as much as you can because people are not numbers.
Curtis 07:16
What kind of person was he?
Lisa 07:17
He was a good person. He tried to help people that were on it then when I got him coming to some of the meetings, there at the Pounds, he really enjoyed that. Like I said he wanted to be a part of, he always stayed in his own little lane too.
Curtis 07:34
Is there an image of him that pops in your mind every time he's mentioned?
Lisa 07:39
I'd rather just not. I don't really think about him much anymore, like because I do but I don't. Not trying to be so callous or anything but I just believe that he's in a better place now. And sometimes he'll be with his family, and I have to just focus on today.
Curtis 07:57
Everyone grieves differently, right?
Jenna Keeble 07:59
That brings us to the end of this episode of the Unsilencing Stories podcast. To listen to more interviews in the series, please go to www.unsilencingstories.com, and if you'd like to share your thoughts on the episode, message us at unsilencingstories@gmail.com. Thank you so much for listening and please share the project with other people you know.