Woman’s Voice: The Lenawee Substance Abuse Prevention Coalition is a diverse group of dedicated community members united around the goal of reducing substance use in Lenawee County. LSAPC members work collaboratively to engage and educate the community in order to promote a healthy Lenawee.
Kathy Williams: With me tonight on the program as Tim Kelly. And he is with the Lenawee Substance Abuse Prevention Coalition. It’s quite a mouthful.
Tim Kelly: Yes, it is.
Kathy Williams: Tim, we want to give our listeners an update on how wonderful the drug take back event went that happened on Saturday, the 24th out at ProMedica Hickman Hospital. What a turnout.
Tim Kelly: Yeah, it was quite amazing. I know it was a little bit of a drizzly day, but a little gray, but it seemed like a great turnout. Close to 300 people came out and dropped off some prescriptions.
Kathy Williams: Exactly. And we got darn close to hitting that 500 pounds. So I was really excited about that.
Tim Kelly: Yeah, they had 250 pounds of tablets and capsules, 180 plus pounds of bottled medicine or topical products. So those two numbers are just fantastic.
Kathy Williams: They are. And, you know, we we talked during the broadcast about different locations that people can drop off their drugs on a regular basis and they can get that information online at DrugPreventionLenawee.com. But during the drug take back, it was the only time they were able to do liquids.
Tim Kelly: Mhhm, Yeah.
Kathy Williams: And so that was kind of important that. Sharps and syringes were also accepted and those are not generally accepted at the red barrels or the other Drop-Off locations.
Tim Kelly: Yeah, yeah. The only place I know of that can actually take those right now is is at the hospital. So if people need to drop those off, they can bring them to the hospital to drop off there.
Kathy Williams: There you go. I know from talking to Jennifer, the head pharmacist, she shared that she even got some old-school syringes that were metal.
Tim Kelly: Oh, wow.
Kathy Williams: Yeah, they were very old. So, you know, I think it’d be nice to remind everyone that we’re going to be doing another one in October.
Tim Kelly: Yeah, in October we will have our second one. It will be the same process as this one where you drive in to ProMedica and drop off whatever it is you need to drop off.
Kathy Williams: You know, there was concern too with did they have to keep it in the original containers? Did they have to mark out their personal information? I loved watching the pharmacy volunteers that were there. They sorted out the drugs between pills, capsules and everything else. And then they took care of marking out any personal information and making sure that that you were protected.
Tim Kelly: Yeah, they they did a great job. We had the students from University of Michigan and the University of Toledo. And so, yeah, Jennifer did a great job with them and having them sort things. So you don’t have to have it in the containers. They’ll take it whatever way you need to bring it in. Just bring it in and they’ll sort through it and dispose of it properly.
Kathy Williams: Well, we can also share, of course, that you know, the highlight. Of course, we try to focus on opioids and, you know, illegal drugs. But a lot of people have just basic things in their cupboards that they need to get rid of. I personally found vitamins that expired in 2012. I was like, OK, that’s a little old. But but it seems like a lot of the people that stopped by were in similar situations.
Tim Kelly: Yeah. There’s, there’s lots of things you didn’t really realize in your cupboards that are, you know, supplements, your pet medical medications, those things expire and they should be disposed of properly. Dumping them out or flushing them down the toilet is not good for the environment. So we need to keep trying to get these things to the proper places, whether it be on these drug take back days or at the red barrels at the law enforcement.
Kathy Williams: There you go, Tim. I know you’ve got some people we’d like to thank for helping us with the drug take back day. Who have you got there?
Tim Kelly: Ok, well, first of all, there’s the people the day off. You know, those people were out there and drizzly a little bit of rain and and doing a great job. First, there was you, Kathy and and John, we really appreciate the the work you guys did. But those students from Toledo and and the University of Michigan, Jennifer Foss herself, and can’t forget the two sheriff’s deputies are out there, Jacob Pifer and and David Aungst. I hope I pronounce that right. So we want to appreciate them for what they’ve done. But we also have, you know, those those entities that did help us like Comfort Keepers, the sheriff’s department, the health department. WLEN, Lenawee Community Mental Health, Charlotte Stephenson Manor. The Department of Health and Human Services, and Hospice of Lenawee.
Kathy Williams: So we did give away 100 goodie bags that were ready that had all of the items that we ended up going through another 150 bags and ran out. So, you know, we encourage people if you’re out there and you’d like to put something in the goody bag for October, please get ahold of us.
Tim Kelly: Yeah, please do. We had some volunteers from hospice, put those together for us. And we were really surprised and happily surprised that we gave away over 100 of them. And so, yeah, if people have anything, just they can reach out to through the website, the Substance Abuse Coalition, and we could take your your items and put them in goodie bags to give out to people in the fall.
Kathy Williams: There you go. Well, thanks so much, Tim, and we appreciate all the work that you put into this drug. Take back day. And we look forward to another successful one in October.
Woman’s Voice: Thank you for listening. This information has been provided by the Lenawee Substance Abuse Prevention Coalition. New messages air on the first and third Monday of each month at 6:15 p.m. You can listen to this program as a podcast under the audio tab on WLEN.com and listen and gather more information at DrugPreventionLenawee.com.
