WLEN Interview with Cradle to Career Director Tim Kelly

Woman’s Voice: This special program is brought to you by the Lenawee Substance Abuse Prevention Coalition. Guests provide information about upcoming events, resources available, and the many ways to help reduce substance use and promote a healthy Lenawee.

Kathy Williams: This is Kathy Williams and with me on tonight’s program is Tim Kelly. And Tim and I are going to be talking about the results of the Drug Take-Back event that just happened a couple weeks ago, Tim.

Tim Kelly: Yeah. Out at Hickman Hospital, we had a 10:00 to 2:00 event, and had a number of people dropping stuff off to get rid of their old medicines.

Kathy Williams: Yep. You know, it was interesting that, let’s see, we started this a year ago. We had a April, October last year. We had a April this year, and now the October 30th this year for drug take-backs. And it, the amount of donations at all of them has really been eye opening.

Tim Kelly: Yeah. Yeah. It’s amazing to think that in one day, you can get over or close to 300 pounds of medication dropped off in just that short period of time.

Kathy Williams: So I think the word is finally getting out about safe disposal and getting these out of harm’s way basically because we are seeing more and more statistics that say that family members and, you know, possibly just acquaintances are misusing other people’s medications.

Tim Kelly: Yeah. I think that’s one of the biggest messages is that you know, kids are exposed or have the opportunity by going to somebody else’s medicine cabinet or drawer in a house someplace and obtaining these medicines that have been recognized as leading to people with addictions. So…

Kathy Williams: Yes.

Tim Kelly: So that’s really been the message for the last few years and it seems to be working.

Kathy Williams: Yeah, I think so too. And I know, you know, it’s been a tough message to get out there. People were used to just throwing things away in the trash cans or flushing them down the toilets, you know, and things like that. And, you know, getting them to say it’s just a little out of your way, maybe to do some storage or drop them off quicker at the different locations, pharmacies and such. But the drug take back events really brought this all to the surface better.

Tim Kelly: Yeah. Yeah. You mentioned it’s been the last couple years and that you know, obviously after COVID we weren’t doing much until then, but after COVID we had our first one and we had 471 pounds worth of things returned at that time.

Kathy Williams: Right.

Tim Kelly: And it’s, the number’s actually gone down a little bit each year since then, or each event since then. But I look at that as being a good thing. Just like you mentioned, the word is getting out there and people are taking stuff in throughout the year. As they recognize it, looks like they’re taking it to their local law enforcement agency or to the pharmacy and dropping things off. So it’s about messaging, but yeah, we like to have the big numbers of, you know, like this year we had 293 pounds worth of medications dropped off on that one day.

Kathy Williams: Yeah.

Tim Kelly: So it’s good in both regards, you know. We’re getting the message out and they’re taking it to the pharmacies, the hospital or to the local law enforcement, but there is that opportunity in April and October every year moving forward, we’ll be having one.

Kathy Williams: Exactly. It also, I think, is an opportunity to encourage people to learn more about drug abuse and the potential dangers that are involved in all of it.

Tim Kelly: Yeah. People need to understand that these are harmful medications. If you’re not prescribed them and you get access to them, they can interact with other meds people are on. So… and they become, when they are expired, they can become dangerous to somebody.

Kathy Williams: Right, right. Well, and because your medications change, maybe the new one you’re on, you shouldn’t be taking that old one you were on because the complications that can, you know, drug interaction complications. Tim Kelly: Yeah, and I know as you get older sometimes you can get confused about those things. So if you have a family member that’s a little bit older and maybe, you know, might have a series of medications…

Kathy Williams: Cognitive problems.

Tim Kelly: Yeah, if they’re not really clear on what they should be taking, it’s best just to get that stuff that’s old and counteractive to some other medication out of their house.

Kathy Williams: Yeah. Yep. Get it out of there. So, Tim, we talk about that they can go to DrugPreventionLenawee.com of course, and get additional information. A lot’s with the Lenawee Community Mental Health Authority, the Lenawee Substance Abuse Prevention Coalition, of course, they’re, you know, big time involved in this.

Tim Kelly: Yeah. If you go to DrugFreeLenawee, that’s the website, just type in “Drug Free Lenawee”, you’ll find a list of all the places they can take certain medications, either it be pills or liquids, or even sharps, which is the needles that we seem to be getting a lot of those and that’s a good thing we get them out of there cuz they can be dangerous to have around. But yeah, if you go to those websites, they can pretty much tell you just about any place to take them to throughout the year.

Kathy Williams: There you go. Throughout the year. And if you do decide you want to find out more, definitely go to that website. There are some different things like Deterra bags that help with dissolving things, and I believe all the locations, a lot of the drop off locations are listed on there.

Tim Kelly: Yeah. Yep. Yep.

Kathy Williams: So, Tim, approximately 125 people, 293 pounds of goodies. So the lower participation, lots more product.

Tim Kelly: Yeah.

Kathy Williams: So we are getting that message out there.

Tim Kelly: Yep. I need to take a second just to thank all the people that helped with this because…

Kathy Williams: Sure.

Tim Kelly: You know, those pharmacy students that come up here from the University of Toledo, they work all day long sorting those meds and making sure they’re disposed of correctly. Our sheriff’s office, who has two deputies there, so they participate in it. We have a number of people like Hospice that puts together the goodie bags that we gave out. Let’s see, McDonald’s, it gives us things for those goodie bags and, you know, the Health Department and some of our local partners around the Veterans Administration. Matt Raad did a great job in providing us things and participating in this work. So we just want to say thanks to them for everything they’ve done.

Kathy Williams: Yeah. It just comes back to that it takes a village.

Tim Kelly: Yeah. It has been really rewarding to see how many people help out to get this done.

Kathy Williams: Exactly. Exactly. Well, thanks for all you do, Tim. We really appreciate you as well.

Tim Kelly: Oh, thank you.

Woman’s Voice: The Lenawee Substance Abuse Prevention Coalition supported by funding from the Health Resources and Services Administration. Thank you for listening. New messages air on the second and fourth Monday each month at 6:15 PM. You can listen to this program as a podcast under the “on air audio” tab on WLEN.com and get more information at DrugPreventionLenawee.com.