Laura Eamon was a few months into her first semester at Carleton University in 2011 when she was taken from a residence party to hospital by paramedics.

Embarrassed by being carried out in front of her fellow students, her mindset changed when she was discharged and returned to campus in Ottawa.

“People are cheering and chanting, and like, ‘Oh, my God. You’re the girl that got taken by ambulance. You drink as much as I do,'” said Eamon. “It was almost like a badge of honour.”

It wasn’t the only time Eamon, originally from Hammonds Plains, N.S., went to hospital because of excessive drinking.