(NEWS CENTER) —The opioid epidemic has gripped our nation, our state, and our communities. For one Maine woman, is has affected her on multiple levels.
The mission of operation hope is to help give people suffering from addiction options for help and for treatment. When the doors first opened, there were lines of people in need, the lobby was packed, the program, and Jaime's brother Devon were thriving.
"He was in our 2nd round of Angel training... He made several placements for us. He was really excited to make our 150th placement. The last day I saw him we were at Deering Oaks at the rally for recovery and we were celebrating 200 placements and I got to have that memory of him"
Devon, who had been sober for 14 months, relapsed and then died from an overdose back in 2016.
"I was really naive about it. I felt like once he was at the one year point I didn't need to worry anymore and I stopped worrying. And that was not the case, he was unraveling and before I had even known he had relapsed, he had died"
Jaime is still trying to help people through Operation Hope using her brother's death as inspiration. Her branch has currently placed 287 people into treatment.
Click here for more information about Operation Hope.