Community Events

May

2021

WLEN Interview with Cradle to Career Director Tim Kelly

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.

Apr

2021

WLEN Interview with Cradle to Career Director Tim Kelly

Show the Transcript.

Kathy Williams: This is Kathy Williams. And with me tonight is Tim Kelly. He is the chairperson for the Lenawee Substance Abuse Prevention Coalition, Subgroup of Prevention and Education. And so we’re talking tonight about the upcoming drug take back. Tim, this Saturday is the big day,

Tim Kelly: Yep! From 10 to 2 out at ProMedica. Hope to have a bunch of people come by and drop off some prescriptions that they don’t need any longer.

Kathy Williams: So it’s very simple to turn in your unused or unwanted medications. And I know last year we didn’t have an event because of COVID, but this year we’re hoping to help clean up some of those cupboards.

Tim Kelly: Yeah, yeah. We’re looking for any prescriptions or over-the-counter medications, pet medications also are something you could drop-off. You can drop off sharps or liquid solids, ointments and inhalers. And we just ask that people remove their personal information off the labels. Can leave them right in the bottles and drop them off. And we really want to set a new goal or you record this year if we can, because we didn’t get to do this last year. And in 2019 we had 300 pounds of prescriptions dropped off and it would be really great to just blow that out of the water and get five, six hundred pounds of this stuff out of the out of the community.

Kathy Williams: Exactly. So I know, you know, some people probably have trouble with disposing. We’re going to be there to help them with marking things off if they haven’t got that done, we’ll make sure they’re secure.

Tim Kelly: Yeah, there’s going to be people from the pharmacy right there from ProMedica that can take them from you and they’ll make sure they’re disposed of properly. And those, the first 100 people that come through and drop things off, we’re going to give you a little goody bag. And then I I think there’s actually something WLEN’s doing afterwards around the sweepstakes.

Kathy Williams: There is. We’re going to have a sweepstakes that can enter online and win a two hundred dollar gift basket with all kinds of great gift cards in it. So, you know, we want to encourage people to take the time to go out and get this done. This is not just for opioids. I think sometimes people think a drug take back is just for the the hardcore drugs, but it really is about all of them and keeping them out of the wrong people’s hands, keeping them out of the environment and, you know, just being smarter consumers basically.

Tim Kelly: Yeah, the opioid pandemic was something that really brought this to a greater light, that we knew that we heard the stories of people that were misusing medications, that were stealing medications from family members. So that really raised the issue to a new level. But there’s always been prescriptions that need to be gotten rid of because they’re outdated. And just dumping them down a toilet or throwing them away in the garbage still allows them to somehow end up in the environment. So we need to get any and everything we can out of the environment. We need to make sure that they’re not in cabinets and in places accessible in homes because they are available then to children and anyone else who would like to abuse some medication. It can be just anything that somehow is a prescription or, you know, aspirin’s things like that are fine to bring in. Just let’s get it out of the environment and out of the community.

Kathy Williams: Exactly. Exactly. I know a lot of times when you’re being diagnosed with a new health condition, sometimes they start you on one prescription. Next thing you know, they move to a different one. And so now you have all this stuff you can’t use. Those are the kind of things we want you to just get rid of them. You know, it’s not worth storing them. And so those are, you know, bring them to us this Saturday.

Tim Kelly: This’ll be the first of two events. This the Saturday is the first one. There will be another one in October, which I’m sure we’ll be talking again about as we move closer to that day. Yes. But, you know, in between now and then, just want to remind people that there are what are known as red barrels available in places. You can dispose of them at the sheriff’s department and other locations. I would suggest contacting 2-1-1 and they can identify where to take them to if you’re like out in Hudson, Hudson can deliver them to their police department. But other communities, you just need to know where to take them to. So 2-1-1 can probably locate where those red barrels are for you.

Kathy Williams: Great. Well, Tim, again, we want to remind people it’s this Saturday.

Tim Kelly: 10:00 – 2:00.

Kathy Williams: 10:00 – 2:00 to at the New ProMedica Hickman Hospital and it’s in the back. You’re going to follow the signs back to where they’re doing the COVID testing. Basically, this is where the drug take back is going to be. And, you know, we hope people come on out and help us hit that high 500 pounds would be great.

Tim Kelly: Yes.

Kathy Williams: Alright, Thanks, Tim!

Tim Kelly: Appreciate everything you’re doing and we’ll see you on Saturday.

Apr

2021

WLEN Community Conversation with Lenawee County Health Officer Martha Hall and Lenawee County Sheriff Troy Bevier

Show the Transcript.

Kathy Williams: This is Kathy Williams and with me for Community Conversation tonight is Martha Hall, she is the Health Officer with the Lenawee County Health Department, and Lenawee County Sheriff Troy Bevier. Welcome to both of you!

Sheriff Bevier: Thank you for having us.

Martha Hall: Yes, thank you very much, Kathy.

Kathy Williams: You’re very welcome. So, we’re going to talk about one of the important things that isn’t necessarily top-of-mind for everyone. But, the safe disposal of prescription drugs. You know, everything is so easily accessible and we are always concerned about family members and of course, people taking illegal drugs as well. But we want to talk about, you know, what’s happening in our community. Troy, you want to kick things off?

Sheriff Bevier: I absolutely would love to kick things off. So, interestingly, I do get quite a few questions when I’m out in the community about this. People, word has gotten out that the Sheriff’s Office is one of the many locations in Lenawee County that offers the Big Red Barrel. Where you can bring in unused or used prescription drugs and you can drop them off in our Big Red Barrel and we will then safely dispose of it. So that along with our Drug Take-Back Day is huge for the community to give them a place to take those drugs to keep them out of hands of family members who may abuse them and out of hands of little children and things like that. We’re very glad to be able to provide that service and we’ll continue to do so.

Kathy Williams: And, Martha, are there other opportunities, other locations, for drug disposal?

Martha Hall: There actually, there are several other opportunities for disposal here in Lenawee County. At several of our police departments throughout the county. So, Adrian Police Department, Blissfield, Hudson, Morenci, Raisin Township, Hudson. So those are some other locations where we have the Big Red Barrels. And then additionally, ProMedica has the MedSafe kiosk which is located in their emergency department.

Kathy Williams: Okay.

Martha Hall: So we have several opportunities here in Lenawee County to be able to dispose of drugs on a regular basis. And then of course the opportunity that we have taking place on April 24^th is yet another opportunity for us to be able to dispose of those unwanted or unused medications. And to be able to dispose of some items that we can’t normally dispose of through the Big Red Barrel program.

Kathy Williams: Well, and I know some people think “oh, it’s just the hardcore drugs that I need to take care of properly,” but it’s really everything, any kind of medication, including those for your pets. We’re trying to keep them out of landfills, trying to keep them out of… don’t flush them down the toilet anymore, keep them out of the water systems and such. It might seem like a small thing, but when everybody’s doing it, it becomes a big thing.

Martha Hall: Yeah, very true. You know, so in addition to the fact that we want to be able to keep drugs out of the hands of individuals that they were not prescribed for, we also want to protect our environment. So, you know, doing proper disposal is really key.

Kathy Williams: Yep, yeah. Troy, you’ve probably been involved in Drug Take-Backs in the past. What kind of response do you usually get for those?

Sheriff Bevier: You know, we at the Sheriff’s Office have been involved in this for many many years in combination with ProMedica. We go way back. And I was talking to the under-sheriff, and he’s been involved in it for many many years and teaming up with DEA because the drugs have to go somewhere safely so we have a partnership with the DEA to get rid of those. Yeah, and you talk about a big problem: last year, unfortunately with COVID we did not have a Drug Take-Back so we’ve got to believe that there are quite a bit of drugs out there that people want to get rid of and dispose of safely. Going way back, so we pulled a little bit of information and in 2017 there was 483 pounds of drugs that were disposed of safely through the Drug Take-Back system: Drug Take-Back Day. The following year it wasn’t quite so big, it was 380 lbs, it kinda went down. So that might tell us that people are disposing of their unused, unwanted drugs. It was 300 lbs in 2019 and we know last year there were none. So we’re looking forward to a big year this year to make sure that we get rid of that again to help the environment and keep everyone safe.

Kathy Williams: Martha, can you explain to our listeners what they need to do as far as bringing their drugs to a take-back or to a disposal site?

Martha Hall: Certainly. So for the Drug Take-Back event that will be on April 24^th at the ProMedica Charles and Virginia Hickman Hospital, and that’s located at 5640 North Adrian Highway. Individuals will just follow the signage after they get out to the hospital. They are able to dispose of over-the counter medications, prescription medications, pet medications. All of those will be accepted as well as sharps, medications that are liquids, ointments, and inhalers. Those are things we’re not always able to accept. That’s really something that can happen twice a year when we’re doing these take backs through partnership with ProMedica. Everyone should leave the medications in the original containers if that’s possible and then just mark out their personal information.

Kathy Williams: And I even recall that I did take part in a Drug Take-Back before. And I hadn’t mark out my stuff so they marked it out when I got there. But it does make it easier if you mark it out yourself in advance. Troy, we were talking earlier as part of a committee that our goal this year is 500 lbs.

Sheriff Bevier: That would be a very good goal. I think you might make that. You would definitely break the 483 lbs take-back in 2017. So…

Kathy Williams: Yep. And I know we’re going to be doing some videos and some Facebook Live stuff kinda showing how easy it is to do a drug take-back. But you know, when you have a family member maybe who is in and out of prescriptions, and you have the one now that they can’t take anymore, I mean it helps to put it in a box and save it for a Drug Take-Back, get it out of the way when they’re not narcotics, so to speak. I mean, if they’re narcotics, you want to get rid of them right away. But I have people that have been on different kinds of antibiotics and stuff and then like that one’s not working or we’re going to switch to this, and low-and-behold you have five days left. You know, what do you do with it?

Sheriff Bevier: And expired medication. A lot of times people have expired medication at home, and they just want to know how can they get rid of it safely. So, we here at the Sheriff’s Office see people coming in and bringing in bags of medication and disposing of them in the Big Red Barrels. So, all of this little bit helps. And it helps the environment, it keeps people safe, and it helps to make the community a safer place. So that’s what we’re all about.

Kathy Williams: Exactly, exactly. And it’s an educational thing too. I know there’s lots of information about what they can do. So I know that the Lenawee Substance Abuse Prevention Coalition has DrugPreventionLenawee.com. It’s a great site to go to. They’re also on Facebook too and they’ll have information as far as the Drug Take-Back and different programs that are available for any kind of drugs or alcohol-type issues.

Martha Hall: Yeah, certainly. There’s a wealth of information that is available there at the DrugPreventionLenawee.com and would really encourage individuals to just go there and just learn about some of those opportunities here in Lenawee County to be able to help with prevention in our community. You know, one of the things with the drugs is that individuals tend to hold onto them. You know, somebody gets a prescription, and you know, like you mentioned, maybe it was an antibiotic prescription and they had to try a couple of different ones or they weren’t able to take a prescription for some reason. We don’t want to hold onto those and save them for another time.

Kathy Williams: Right.

Martha Hall: We want to be able to get them out of circulation. You know, either if you’ve got them sitting around right now, let’s get them to this Drug Take Back event on April 24^th. And on a regular basis, we have so many opportunities in our communities to be able to get those disposed of. We know as far as opioids, 52% of individuals that misused opioids in Lenawee County indicated that they got them a family member or a friend. So if we have medications that we aren’t using, let’s get them out of circulation. Let’s keep our community safe. And making sure that they’re disposed of properly, again, it protects our environment. Also you know, young children that have the potential to be to you know, get a hold of some medication that they shouldn’t. So I encourage everybody. Take a look at what you’ve got going in your medicine cabinet. If there are items in there that are expired, whether they’re over the counter, whether they’re prescription, if you have things that are expired or you are no longer using that medication, let’s get them to the Drug Take-Back Day and let’s try to meet that 500 lbs. goal. I would love to see that happen.

Kathy Williams: I would too. I would too. And so the Drug Take-Back is on April 24^th. It’s a Saturday, it’s going to be going on from 10 o’clock until 2 o’clock. And there’s gonna be goody bags that they’re going to give out that will have some great little tchotchkes in them, and a chance to win a $200 sweepstakes prize too, so if you enter a little sweepstakes. So you know, Sheriff Troy Bevier I appreciate your time today and Martha Hall. Thank you so much for all you’re doing to help get Lenawee County into a better situation and helping with the Drug Take-Back.

Sheriff Bevier: Thank you very much, Kathy and WLEN for being a partner with us, and we appreciate that.

Martha Hall: Yes, thank you very much.

Dec

2017

WLEN Public Service Announcement

Show the Transcript.

Woman’s Voice: Every day an average of 2,000 teens use prescription drugs to get high. The good news? It’s preventable. Do your part to prevent prescription drug abuse by taking these steps: Safeguard all prescription drugs at home by monitoring the quantities. Know how many pills are in a bottle or pill packet. Keep track of refills, and even if you don’t have teens in your home, lock your meds up. Properly dispose of all your medications. Remember the Big Red Barrel program? Set clear rules by making sure your teens understand your rules about drug use, including not sharing medications with anyone and always following medical providers; advice in dosage. Be a role model by following the same rules and talk to the teens in your life about the dangers of prescription and over-the-counter drugs. Do your part. For more information on how you can do your part or any information regarding substance abuse, contact customer services at 263-8905.