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By Matt Cizek

matt.cizek@winchestersun.com

Some are called and empowered with the skills to help others and for many that was the case with Dr. Morgan Budde, a physician at New Day Recovery Center located off Wainscott Ave. in Winchester.

Dr. Budde, 45, was unexpectedly found deceased by staff last Friday morning.

His death was announced by a post on the organization’s Facebook page later that afternoon.

“It is with much sadness that we inform our community, staff, and New Day Family of the untimely passing of our dear friend and former provider, Dr. Morgan Budde, who lost his battle to addiction earlier this week,” the post reads.

Budde, a graduate of the American University of the Caribbean School of Medicine, was a person in recovery and his experience helped give him the unique ability to empathize with patients at an organization dedicated to helping women struggling with substance abuse.

“A lot of [clients] are really ashamed to talk to doctors and just scared because they don’t think doctors understand substance use,” peer support supervisor Amber Fields said. “We would be like, ‘Listen, this doctor is going to be like no doctor you’ve ever met because he understands substance use and he understands exactly what you’re feeling and exactly what you’re going through.’ It was a really good thing for the clients here.”

Dr. Budde had initially gotten his job through a mutual friendship with the owner of New Day Recovery Center.

Open about his prior substance use, Dr. Budde sought to be an example of the difference recovery could make. He would find as much satisfaction in serving clients as they would in receiving his care.

“For most of us in recovery, we’ve all made mistakes in the past. He had really made positive changes in his life and who he was to try to remedy that,” said Fields. “This job and helping ladies was just everything to him. He would come up here with me in the middle of the night, and he would not leave me until he knew we had it under control as a team.”

Dr. Budde is survived by his two sons.