Radio - Lenawee Substance Abuse Prevention Coalition

Feb

2023

WLEN Interview with Families Against Narcotics Public Relations & Social Media Coordinator Ben Trevino

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 Ben Trevino, and Ben is the Public Relations and Social Media Coordinator for a new group called FAN, F A N are the initials. Ben, thanks for joining us. We’re anxious to learn some more about the Families Against Narcotics group.

Ben Trevino: Yeah, Kathy, thanks for having me.

Kathy Williams: So, tell us, you know, and the group is in its infancy getting set up. Tell us what the goals and the future issues that you’re gonna be dealing with. How, how does this affect our community?

Ben Trevino: So, FAN is a nationwide network of different chapters in individual communities, and every chapter has its own stated mission and goals. But ours would be to fill in the gaps in some of the social services and figure out what exactly families need as a place to turn to first…

Kathy Williams: Okay.

Ben Trevino: When they’re looking for help with people dealing with, drug addiction mainly, alcoholism too. And just having that resource and being able to connect them with the appropriate people for treatment.

Kathy Williams: So, would they still start at LCMHA at the Lenawee Community Mental Health Authority, to get connected to FAN, or how’s that work?

Ben Trevino: Yeah, so they, they can start there and we might refer them there, but where they would really start is calling the FAN phone number, which we don’t have yet.

Kathy Williams: Okay.

Ben Trevino: We will soon, but we’ll, here or going to the fan website.

Kathy Williams: Okay.

Ben Trevino: And having that is just like, almost like calling what, what do they call it? 211.

Kathy Williams: Like 211.

Ben Trevino: Okay. So it’ll be like a 211 for drug addiction.

Kathy Williams: Okay.

Ben Trevino: So they can just turn to us and we can guide them through this landscape, which can be kind of tricky at first.

Kathy Williams: Yes. Well, there is a lot of, or there are a lot of resources in our area, but like with 211, it’s a good starting spot. So, it kind of gives you a big cafeteria choices of where do I need to go? What do I need to do?

Ben Trevino: Right.

Kathy Williams: So, FAN would be similar though for people with substance abuse issues?

Ben Trevino: Right. And then we’ll also have different programs which will implement harm reduction strategies.

Kathy Williams: Okay.

Ben Trevino: So, things have been shaping up differently, I guess over the past 50 years. We kind of fought a war on drugs and drugs won that war. So, we can congratulate them now.

Kathy Williams: Yeah.

Ben Trevino: You know, the, the idea was to lock everyone up and you know, it, it was so bad that even when they are locked up in prison, they’re still doing drugs. Like everything is just a wash and, and drugs. So, instead of locking people up, we’re looking for different alternatives that we can give, that we can reduce the harm that addicts are doing to themselves and to the broader society.

Kathy Williams: Right.

Ben Trevino: While driving engagement. So, seeing them more often as opposed to just when they come to the emergency room.

Kathy Williams: Right.

Ben Trevino: And being able to use those program to get them into treatment, just like a, a funnel them into the places where we need them. As opposed to waiting for them to get locked up or to, you know, show up to the emergency room with a, with a, you know, potential overdose or some other life-threatening thing.

Kathy Williams: Right. Or a court order for to participate in different things.

Ben Trevino: Right.

Kathy Williams: So you’ll, you’ll be able to better connect and walk beside them then to kind of help them navigate how to not relapse. And will they also help them to navigate how to go through detox and that kind of thing? Or where’s that line gonna be?

Ben Trevino: Right. So that will be more with the providers.

Kathy Williams: Okay.

Ben Trevino: The treatment providers. And we have a network, not locally, but maybe that’s something in the future, I don’t know.

Kathy Williams: Okay.

Ben Trevino: But you know, sort of in our adjacent counties, Washtenaw and Monroe, that we can refer people to. And then once they’re out of treatment, out of that residential setting…

Kathy Williams: Okay.

Ben Trevino: Then they’re back with us and we can refer them to the safe spaces like Pathways Engagement Center.

Kathy Williams: Okay.

Ben Trevino: Or CMH or InterConnections. These places where we know that they can go for support and just about any time that they need to.

Kathy Williams: Well, I’m the board president for Neighbors of Hope, and we have our men’s center, which should be opened up again soon. But we also have a women’s and children’s homeless center. And we take in homeless people who have struggled with addiction after they’ve been through their detox to give them that extra help that they need. So, this will be a great resource for, for groups like that as well.

Ben Trevino: Right. And part of that broader mission is making that allyship with all the different community partners. And right now, now that we’ve formed the Board as the first step, we have people from all different professions, you know, the police, the fire, the EMS, the legal, judicial system, the medical professionals, people in social services, former addicts, people with families of former addicts and all, everything, like it’s a broad spectrum of people from all different areas. And we’re looking to partner with just about anyone that can help us serve these broader goals.

Kathy Williams: Yeah. Yeah. And I think that that’s a great idea too, because then you’re, you’re not out to duplicate services. You’re out to help streamline the services to the people that actually need them at the time they need them.

Ben Trevino: Forming connections. Yeah. Yeah. And, and filling in the gaps.

Kathy Williams: Exactly. Well, Ben, you know, in the process you’re putting up a website and I’m sure you’ll have a Facebook and a phone number and all that stuff. But in the meantime, for our listeners to be able to send some information to you, how can they do that?

Ben Trevino: So yeah, we are in the process of setting up a Facebook group, a website on the national FAN site, and probably some other social media presences. But in the, in the meantime, if people want more information or just to offer some feedback about what they think would be pertinent to our mission and goals, they can contact me. And my email address is BTrevino, so that’s the letter B, and then T R E V I N O at L C M H A.org. That stands for Lenawee Community Mental Health Authority.

Kathy Williams: Well, Ben, I look forward to having you back on, you know, at some future date to get an update of how things have transpired and how effective the group is working within our community.

Ben Trevino: Yeah, I’d love to come back when we’re closer to launch.

Kathy Williams: Thank you. Thanks so much, Ben.

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.

Jan

2023

WLEN Interview with LCMHA / Lenawee Substance Abuse Prevention Coalition Coordinator Madeline DeMarco

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Kathy Williams: This is Kathy Williams and with me tonight is Madeline DeMarco. And Madeline is the Community Outreach and Prevention Coordinator at Lenawee Community Mental Health Authority.

Madeline DeMarco: Alright!

Kathy Williams: Yay. We got it. We got it. So, Madeline, you know, you’re so involved in the Lenawee Substance Abuse Prevention Coalition, LSAPC, and so, you know, we want to talk a little bit tonight about signs of overdose. You know, it’s unfortunately prevalent in our community that we’re seeing more people struggling with drugs and with overdose situations, and yet a lot of us might not know what to even look for. If somebody’s struggling, we might not know. So give us, give us some ideas of some things that we can look for.

Madeline DeMarco: We always like to use the acronym “BLUE” when we’re talking about signs of overdose that we’re looking for in our friends and neighbors and family members. And so BLUE stands for… the first letter “B” is for breathing, and so we’re looking for irregular or shallow breathing. Someone might not be breathing at all, or you might hear snoring or gurgling sounds coming from them.

Madeline DeMarco: The next letter “L” stands for lips, and we’re looking at the color of our lips and fingernails. So if someone is light-skinned, they might have a blue or purpleish tint. If they’re darker skinned, it might look a little bit gray on their fingernails or lips. And then “U” stands for unresponsive. And so that means if you give someone a sternal rub or you shake them or shout their name and they’re not responding, that’s that unresponsive piece.

Kathy Williams: Okay.

Madeline DeMarco: And then the last. E stands for eyes and we’re looking for small pinpoint pupils. And all of these things add up to be what could be signs of an opioid overdose.

Kathy Williams: And that’s scary when you come across that. I, I would imagine, you know, cause you, like you said, you really don’t know what could be going on. Is it drugs? Is that a heart problem? Are they having a, a seizure? Are they, you know, going into some kind of diabetic problem? And so, you know, the first thing to do is probably call 911.

Madeline DeMarco: Absolutely. The first thing you always want to do anytime you come across the situation when someone might be unconscious or not breathing, is call 911. Get professional help there as soon as you can. The next thing that you can do is we recommend that everybody have access to Narcan. Narcan or Naloxone, you might hear it known as, is an amazing life-saving medication because it can reverse an opioid overdose. So, if someone is overdosed and they’re unconscious, you administer Narcan. It often comes in like a nasal spray or an injectable, like an EpiPen. And it’s literally like waking the dead. Where it will revive that person and get them conscious, get them breathing again, so that they can be more stable until help arrives. The other great thing about Narcan is that there are really no negative side effects. So if someone is just unconscious for another reason or not experiencing an opioid overdose, it’s not going to hurt them, it’s not going to harm them. So it’s safe to use in any situation.

Kathy Williams: That was going be the question I was going to ask is, you know what, if you give it to someone that’s not going through that? They are also making Narcan more available. Now I know, I believe all the law enforcement cars carry it. Of course you have different drop-in centers that have it, and, and it’s available to get at different kinds of events or informational things. Where can a person find out more information about maybe getting some Narcan?

Madeline DeMarco: We have a list of places you can get Narcan on the Prevention Coalition website.

Kathy Williams: Okay.

Madeline DeMarco: That’s DrugPreventionLenawee.com. But it’s really available, like you said, in a lot of different places in our community. So groups like Community Mental Health or Pathways Recovery Engagement Center will do free Narcan trainings. So, they’ll teach you how to use Narcan for free and you’ll get your own kit that you can keep.

Kathy Willims: Okay.

Madeline DeMarco: There are also community events. Like Pathways has folks that go to First Fridays here in downtown Adrian, where you can get trained and get Narcan, and also second Fridays, which are held at the Adrian District Library during the wintertime on the second Friday of the month, where you can get trained. You can also access Narcan for free online. There’s a website called NextDistro. “Distro” like “distribution”. And you can go on and watch a quick video and put in your address and it’ll actually mail Narcan right to your door. So there’s a lot of free ways to get it in our community.

Kathy Williams: Yeah, that’s, you know, I mean, it’s one of those things where you hope you never need it, but might as well have it. Is there expiration dates on those or…?

Madeline DeMarco: Narcan is good for about two years.

Kathy Williams: Okay.

Madeline DeMarco: And then we recommend that people replace it, store it in a cool place, that sort of thing. But that’s really quite a while, and I recommend that everybody has access to it. I know I like to give it to all of my friends, family members because you never know, even if someone has a surgery, you know, where they might be on some pain medication or something, it’s, it can be easy to, to accidentally overdose on something. And so it’s like having, you know, a defibrillator or a Band-Aid or something like that around, it’s always better to be safe than sorry.

Kathy Williams: Well that’s great. Well, I sure learned a lot and I know, I’m sure our listeners do too. We really appreciate your helping to educate us a little bit better on signs of overdose and on the Narcan system. Thanks, Madeline.

Madeline DeMarco: Thank you.

Dec

2022

WLEN Interview with LCMHA / Pathways Engagement Center Program Manager Kellie Niese & Community Outreach Coordinator Dawn Finney

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Kathy Williams: This is Kathy Williams, and with me on tonight’s program is Kellie Niese, she is the Pathways Program Manager, along with Dawn Finney, the Community Outreach Coordinator. Kellie, you’ve got some really great things happening at Pathways and let’s learn something about them tonight.

Kellie Niese: We do. So, we are really trying hard with the HRSA grant and with the Prevention Coalition to build some recovery supports in Lenawee County. Recovery supports for people who have experienced addiction or substance use disorder, are in recovery from substance use disorder, or are just looking for help with substance use disorder. So, one of the things we’ve done is built the Lenawee Recovery Network, which is a website where you can access resources in Lenawee County. And on there you’ll find Pathways Engagement Center in our calendar of sober events.

Kathy Williams: And what a great time of year to talk about sober events. It tends to be a little bit higher drinking right now.

Kellie Niese: It is. It’s something you don’t think about that when you’re out of addiction or you’re out of your substance use disorder – what do you do when all your friends are going to a cocktail party or having Thanksgiving with alcohol? Like what are some of your options that you can still experience community and friendship but maybe not have the enticement of substances?

Kathy Williams: There you go. So, Dawn, you have been involved with the different sober events. Tell our listeners about how they are organized, how can they get involved in them? Maybe a little bit about one that’s been fun in the past.

Dawn Finney: Well, one of our funnest events that we have is Saturday morning. Sometimes we do like this big breakfast.

Kathy Williams: Okay.

Dawn Finney: And we make breakfast and even some of the people that come, they’ll bring stuff, and basically it’s just kind of like a little get together. Just coffee and talk and, you know, just, we just have fun. We enjoy people’s companies and it’s a really nice way to start the weekend.

Kathy Williams: And that’s right at the Pathways Center?

Dawn Finney: It is.

Kathy Williams: Okay.

Dawn Finney: It’s right at Pathways. We do eight o’clock in the morning usually, you know. Well, we start at seven.

Kathy Williams: Okay.

Dawn Finney: And then we have our SMART meeting at eight and we kind of go through that.

Kathy Williams: And breakfast with it?

Dawn Finney: Absolutely. It’s a lot of fun.

Kathy Williams: What other kind of events do you have?

Dawn Finney: I am planning a New Year’s Eve get together.

Kathy Williams: Okay.

Dawn Finney: Starting at nine o’clock on New Year’s Eve and I would love if people would come and join me. We are gonna ring in the New Year’s Eve clean, sober, and serene, and just have a good time together. Fellowship, we’re gonna have fun. And you know, when I was in active addiction, I, I was alone. And, you know, you don’t have to be alone anymore. Recovery is not lonely.

Kathy Williams: So the Pathway Center, they can drop in. What are the normal hours that they can drop in?

Kellie Niese: So Pathways is open every night, Monday through Sunday, 8:00 PM to 8:00 AM

Kathy Williams: Okay.

Kellie Niese: You don’t need to make an appointment. If you wanna attend a sober event, you can just drop in, but you can drop in anytime. There is a sober events calendar though, on the LRN – Lenawee Recovery Network – website. And, we have things from Popcorn Night, or Movie Night, not Popcorn Night, but movie night with popcorn, Spa Night, Meditation. We kind of, explore the rainbow of different things that you can do to take care of yourself and nurture your recovery.

Kathy Williams: That sounds like great things and Dawn, I’m sure that you’ll have a good, a good turnout for New Year’s. What a great idea.

Dawn Finney: I’m really excited about it and excited to meet new people.

Kathy Williams: There you go. All right, ladies, well, thank you again for being with us and telling us about some of the different sober events going on at Pathways.

Kellie Niese: As always, we love it when you have us by to talk about some of the new and exciting things we’re doing in our community.

Dec

2022

WLEN Interview with LCMHA / Pathways Engagement Center Program Manager Kellie Niese & Community Outreach Coordinator Dawn Finney

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Kathy Williams: This is Kathy Williams and with me on tonight’s program is Kellie Niese, she is the Program Manager for Pathways, and Dawn Finney, who is the new Community Outreach Coordinator for Pathways. Ladies, thank you for coming in and talking to us today.

Kellie Niese: Hi Kathy. It’s always nice to be in to talk to you.

Dawn Finney: Thanks for having us.

Kathy Williams: So, one of the things that we want to highlight today is the new Lenawee Recovery Network. Kellie, can you tell us a little bit about how that got started?

Kellie Niese: Yeah. So, out of the Lenawee County Prevention Coalition, we formed a work group specifically looking at what resources are in Lenawee County for substance use disorder or for people that suffer from addiction from substances and we realized there’s not really one place that people can go to get those resources or an easy place to go.

Kathy Williams: Right.

Kellie Niese: So we created a website called the Lenawee Recovery Network. You’ll probably hear us call it LRN to be easier.

Kathy Williams: Okay, right.

Kellie Niese: And it is really a website that has all of the resources in Lenawee County that someone might need that suffers from substance use disorders. So, housing help, transportation assistance, and connection to peers at Pathways Engagement Center. So it’s a really cool resource that we just developed here for our community.

Kathy Williams: So, Dawn, when they go to the Lenawee Recovery Network site, what kind of things are they gonna find there?

Dawn Finney: Well, we have our Peer Profiles. You get to read a story about each of our peers and see who you could possibly be talking to. The phone number to reach Pathways is there. You’re also going to be able to see the times for our SMART meetings. You’ll be able to see, you know, we give out Narcan freely to anybody who needs it, and there’s just a lot of information that you can, you can gain. There’s also some nice YouTube videos up there talking about harm reduction and just some education that I think that os really nice for people to see and understand.

Kathy Williams: You know, I love a site like that too, because not just the person going through the issues, but their family members and their support people can also go on there and maybe get some good ideas on how to help the individual.

Dawn Finney: Oh yeah. You can learn a lot from it.

Kathy Williams: Yeah. So, it’s Lenawee Recovery Network. On Facebook?

Kellie Niese: Well, it’s its own website so you can…

Kathy Williams: Oh, it is its own… Not, it is not Facebook then?

Kellie Niese: Well, I mean, I put a link on the Pathways Engagement Center page, a QR code, so people can head over to the Pathways page.

Kathy Williams: Okay.

Kellie Niese: And they can scan that QR code and get right on the website. Or you can just search “Lenawee Recovery Network” and hopefully it will come up in your search.

Kathy Williams: Is it a “ dot com” or a…?

Kellie Niese: Just Lenawee Recovery Network?

Kathy Williams: Oh, there you go. Alright. So, we make it easy!

Kellie Niese: We make it that easy, but mostly we’re handing out, Dawn’s job will be to go out into the community and offer a lot of resources to organizations and our community partners about the website. And in those resources will be QR codes that people can easily scan and get onto the website. It’s a really new project. So, the… one of the things that I also wanna highlight on there that’s near and dear to my heart, I think what’s great about the LRN is that you can go there and find hope and find out that you’re not alone, which is an important message. And so on this website is a memorial page or “In Memorium” page for families affected by substance use disorder to express the loss of their loved ones and how that’s impacted them and share that with our community. You’ll see my memorial in there to my sister, and I’m hoping that more people will share and we can send that message that this is a battle we can fight together and that you’re not alone.

Kathy Williams: So, Dawn, you would be interested then in going to speak in front of service organizations, classrooms, any kind of other groups in our community that would be interested in finding out more information then?

Dawn Finney: Oh, absolutely.

Kathy Williams: What would be the best way for them to contact you then?

Dawn Finney: You can actually get ahold of me through the Facebook page.

Kathy Williams: Okay.

Dawn Finney: Or through the LRN website. You can get a hold of me.

Kathy Williams: There you go. Well, thank you, ladies, so much for coming in and getting us a little bit more acquainted with the Lenawee Recovery Network. We hope you have great success with it.

Kellie Niese: Well, thank you so much for having us and at the end of the day, if anyone’s in crisis or needs help, they can also reach out to Lenawee Community Mental Health, anytime 24 hours a day: (517) 263-8905

Kathy Williams: Thanks, Kelly.

Nov

2022

WLEN Interview with LCMHA / Lenawee Substance Abuse Prevention Coalition Coordinator Madeline DeMarco

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Kathy Williams: I’m Kathy Williams. And with me on tonight’s program is Madeline DeMarco, and Madeline is with the Lenawee Community Health Authority as well as the Lenawee Substance Abuse Prevention Coalition. Madeline and I are going to talk about issues of the holidays that have to do with safe holiday driving. This is an interesting topic.

Madeline DeMarco: Thanks for having me, Kathy. It’s good to be here. And we’re here to talk about the holiday season and the roads because the Lenawee Substance Abuse Prevention Coalition is working with the U.S Department of Transportation’s National Highway Traffic Safety Administration to really raise awareness around safe driving habits to help keep impaired drivers off the road. We know that the end of the year can bring about, you know, lots of merriment with the holiday season. And we want to make sure that Americans are safe on the roads as we’re traveling to and from our holiday get-togethers and vacation destinations, and really just remind people that if you plan to go out and those plans include alcohol, marijuana, or other drugs in your celebrations that you don’t drive.

Kathy Williams: Exactly. Have a DD. You know, I think sometimes people don’t realize how much effect, you know, just a small amount of marijuana even, or a small amount of alcohol plays into their reaction times with driving, especially when you pull in it the effect of winter road situations and things like that. And just the slightest hesitation can be the difference between an accident or safe driving.

Madeline DeMarco: Even if you only have one drink or just a small bit of something and you don’t think that you’re impaired, we actually know that even just that small amount, like you said, can affect those important mental skills that we need for driving, like your reaction time and your critical thinking. And so even if you think you’re okay, if you’ve been consuming at all, it’s really not safe for you to get behind the wheel. And especially this time of year, when we have more drivers on the roads than ever, it’s really just an accident waiting to happen. Quite literally.

Kathy Williams: It really is. And you know, we need to look out for each other and maybe somebody takes a time out and the other person has their holiday cheer, so to speak. But you have to think about all the rest of the people that are dominoes like that are affected by one of your bad decisions. It’s not just you, it’s all the other people that are impacted by a crash or you know, the other people that are in their car that could be hurt.

Madeline DeMarco: Yeah. We know that in the U.S. during the holiday season, one person is killed every 52 minutes. So that’s more than one person every hour due to some sort of drunk driving-related crash. And that’s not just necessarily the driver. That can be passengers, that can be pedestrians, that can be people in the other cars. And so we really need to look out for our friends and family and keep our community safe.

Kathy Williams: Yes, exactly. Because, you know, we’ve talked before about mental health issues, but if you’re that driver the amount of guilt and devastation that you’ve put on other people in your community is forever.

Madeline DeMarco: Yeah. And there are some real financial impacts as well of getting in, you know, a drunk driving incident. You know, if you get a DUI that can set you back more than $10,000 in addition to other, you know, insurance, settlements and things. And you could potentially do jail time, you could lose your driver’s license… I mean, those are not things you want to talk about at the holiday table with your loved ones.

Kathy Williams: No, and even lose your job in many instances!

Madeline DeMarco: Exactly.

Kathy Williams: So, you know, let’s, let’s celebrate with a plan then. So, you know, give our listeners an idea of some different things to help them with planning ahead.

Madeline DeMarco: The biggest thing is really that if you’re planning to head out for any sort of holiday festivity to make sure, like you said, that you have a plan for a safe ride home. So, if you’re planning on using any substances like alcohol or marijuana, that you are not the one driving, that you have a sober driver that can take you home. And if you don’t have a sober driver, we have some other options in our community. Things like the Ride Lenawee shuttle can be a great option – that runs between downtown Adrian and Tecumseh on weekend evenings. And we really encourage folks too, that if it’s your turn to be the designated driver, to take your role, seriously: your friends and family are counting on you to get everybody home safely. And again, like we’ve said, even just one drink can be too many. If you’re the driver, it’s just not worth the risk.

Kathy Williams: You know, and at the same time, you have to be keeping an eye out for other drivers who may be driving impaired. And I know it’s uncomfortable maybe to let authorities know, but if you spot someone who’s really driving impaired, you need to notify someone.

Madeline DeMarco: Yes. You can call your local law enforcement if you’re driving on the roads and you see someone that you might suspect is driving under the influence. But even before then, you can take action too. If you’re at a gathering and you notice someone’s about to get in their car and maybe, you know, they’re not walking so straight, it doesn’t seem like a good idea, say something and take those keys away. That person might be upset in the moment, but they’ll thank you in the morning. Trust me.

Kathy Williams: Exactly. So, Madeline, some other ways that they can learn more information is of course, is the Facebook page: LenaweeVsAddiction and the website.

Madeline DeMarco: Yes. The Substance Abuse Prevention Coalition also has a website. It’s www.Drug PreventionLenawee.com. So, you can access either that or our Facebook page for more information. We’ll be sharing some tips for keeping our roads safe this holiday season all month long.

Kathy Williams: We want everyone to have a very Merry Christmas and a happy new year, but let’s drive safely.

Madeline DeMarco: Absolutely.