The Shadow
A community event to raise awareness about alcohol abuse was held Thursday at Covington High School.
“The Impact of Alcohol On Your Community,” sponsored by Alleghany Highlands Community Services and the Alleghany Highlands Healthy Youth Coalition, was held in conjunction with April’s designation as Alcohol Awareness Month.
Founded and sponsored by the National Council on Alcoholism and Drug Dependence, Alcohol Awareness Month was established in 1987 to help raise awareness and reduce the stigma often associated with alcohol addiction.
Chelsea Dunaway, prevention coordinator with AHCS, noted that, according to a Youth Behavior Risk survey administered in Alleghany County Public School in 2018, 95 percent of middle schoolers and 89 percent of high schoolers have had at least one drink in the past 30 days.
“That number is ridiculously high,” she said, “which is why we’re bringing awareness to the topic of alcohol. Alcohol is dangerous to your life as a youth and as an adult.”
Dunaway also noted that in the past year, there have been 7,825 drunk driving accidents in Virginia alone.
“So it’s still a major concern in the state of Virginia and nationwide,” she said.
The keynote speaker for the event was Hope Hugus, a Highlands resident who was seriously injured and almost lost her life in an automobile accident three years ago. The driver was later convicted of drunk driving.
“I had so many dreams,” said Hugus. “I was young, life was free, and I had forever in front of me.”
Hugus had graduated from Alleghany High School only two weeks before when, in June 2016, the accident occurred. She was one of several people riding in the bed of a pickup truck when the driver lost control of the vehicle, and it overturned into the Jackson River near Petticoat Junction.
“We went straight over the cliff,” Hugus said as she recounted the accident. “All of us in the back of the truck were ejected. We were ejected into the air and fell over 30 feet into the river.
“Some of us were lucky, with only scrapes and bruises,” she added. “Others of us weren’t so lucky. I was one of the unlucky ones.”
Hugus spent several months in the hospital as well as in a rehabilitation facility in Atlanta, Ga.
“What happened to me was the hardest and most difficult thing that I have ever experienced,” she said. “I have both learned a lot, but I’ve also lost a lot.
“My life will never be as it was before June 12, 2016. I will never be that young woman just beginning her life, and from that day on, I’m a different person and a new person.
“Imagine life in my boots, and what it would have to be like knowing and imaging your family in my family’s shoes,” she continued. “Because it’s not just your life you’re impacting, it’s everyone that knows you, and loves you and cares for you. I would never want to walk in the boots that my family has had to walk in.”
Hugus also stressed the importance of not drinking and driving.
“You can go and have fun … but that does not mean that you have to drink and get behind the steering wheel of a vehicle. Always have a designated driver — always,”?she said.
Tracey Heidelberg, a peer specialist with ACHS who has been recovery for almost two years, also shared her story.
Heidelberg noted that she began smoking marijuana at 13, and started drinking at 24. She noted that getting a DUI was the impetus for her to begin recovery.
“That was my wake-up call,” she said. “I never thought I was hurting anybody by drinking. It then dawned on me that I was hurting myself, my kids and my family.”
In 2016, Heidelberg sought help through ACHS.
“There I learned that addiction is a disease, and though it’s not curable, it is manageable. I took that seriously, and the help even more serious.”
Heidelberg has been able to channel her recovery into helping others, which she had always dreamed of doing.
“Being an alcoholic stopped those dreams, being sober has opened those doors again,” she said. “I thought my life was over when I stopped drinking, but in reality I just started living.
“So here I am today, to encourage people like me who want to start a new life, that we learn to crawl, then walk again,” she said.
Lindsey Livesay, substance abuse therapist with ACHS, also offered remarks.
“Alcohol is legal, but it is also one of the most readily available drugs out there, and that alone makes it very, very dangerous,” she said.
In addition to the speakers, representatives from the Virginia State Police brought along their drunk driving simulator. Also, several area organization were present with handouts and literature, including Safe-home Systems, Inc., Lewis Gale Hospital-Alleghany, the Alleghany/Covington Health Department and Loving Life Fellowship.
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Hope Hugus, a 20-year-old Highlands resident who was seriously injured in a 2016 vehicle accident, was the guest speaker for an alcohol awareness community event held Thursday at Covington High School. The event was sponsored by Alleghany Highlands Community Services and the Alleghany Highlands Healthy Youth Coalition. (Gavin Dressler Photo)
