Tuscarawas County Anti-Drug Coalition Meeting

Tuscarawas County Convention & Visitors Bureau- Hybrid

Friday, September 3, 2021

Present:

Ron Bond, Tusc Co Farm Bureau

Robert Bray, WBTC Radio

Jessica (Sexton) Codd, OhioGuidestone Youth Co-Coordinator

Christine Daugherty, Director of Nursing, Trinity Twin City

Michelle Giancola, Windsor Laurelwood BH Community Liason

David Harris, Jr Citizen Member

Connie Limbacher, ADC Secretary

Kerry Metzger, ADC Chairman

Piper Olsen, Youth Representative

Autumn Poland Tusc Co Health Dept 

Miles Riley, Community Mental Health

Jodi Salvo, OhioGuidestone Prevention Coordinator

Gerald Sanders, Citizen Member

Diana Smith, OhioGuidestone Prevention & 922 Initiative Coordinator

Kelly Snyder, Tusc Co Health Dept

Kane Tarrance, Community Outreach Manager, BrightView Health

Robin Waltz, United Way Executive Director

Rachel Wentworth, OhioGuidestone Access Navigator/HopeLine Tusc & Carroll Counties

Terry Wilcox, Community Hospice Chaplain

Meeting Summary:

Kerry Metzger called the Hybrid meeting to order at 10:00 AM on Friday, September 3, 2021, with 19 (11 actual & 8 zoom) members present. We went around and with attendee introductions. Diana Smith made a motion to accept the August 2021 minutes. Jessica Codd seconded and the vote was unanimous. 

Committee Reports:

Executive Committee: Steering Committee—Suicide Coalition—Kerry shared that we have been approached by the Suicide Coalition, requesting our consideration of the Suicide Coalition being placed under the umbrella of the ADC. Autumn Poland made a motion to recommend that the Suicide Coalition come under the ADC and David Harris, Jr seconded. Jodi shared that a Chairman will come with this committee. They will have a place on our website along with social media postings, etc. It would increase our membership capacity, as we have a lot of shared members, but also separate members. Some of the school counselors are more engaged with the suicide coalition for that mental health piece so that is how we can benefit from that relationship. We know it will increase our committee reporting time at our monthly meetings, but think it can be worked in if we designate a certain length of reporting time for that committee. After some discussion, all voted yes. There will need to be a by-law change for this addition and possibly a coalition name change in the future to more represent the diversity of the ADC. We will notify the ADAMHS Board & the chair of the Suicide Coalition that we would like to move forward.

Youth: Jessica reported that Kayli had to step down at this time because of health issues, and will be greatly missed! Piper Olsen from Tuscarawas Central Catholic (TCC) was present as the Youth Representative. She reported that they were just getting started in the schools since school has just started. This new school year will be a rebuilding year with the Y2Y programs post pandemic. The schools that are participating include Claymont, Newcomerstown, Strasburg & TCC. Strasburg has a good program started and will mentor middle schoolers. Many of the schools will begin efforts for “Red Ribbon Week” next month. Jessica reported that we are currently in the early stages of a pilot project to introduce Youth to Youth at Claymont Middle School. She discussed that it was becoming apparent that we needed to start working with students at an earlier age by bringing a structured program to middle schoolers. She is meeting with 6th, 7th & 8th graders during their lunch & working through a program called “Too Good For Drugs”. The first half of the year is SEL learning (Social-Emotional Learning) and the second half is about substance use prevention. The goal is to help groom the students to be able to move into the Y2Y program in high school. The group gets larger each time they meet which is really awesome. We are fortunate to have students like Piper that want to be role models and are willing to take on some leadership roles. 

Alcohol Committee: Jodi reported in Veronica’s absence that the “Talk, We Hear You Campaign” was released on August 16th with a press release. This is a SAMHSA Campaign. It’s designed to help parents talk to their youth about not using alcohol, and the importance of those conversations. Channel 5 did an interview with three ADC members. We will push it out on the ADC website once we get the video.

Marijuana Committee: Tuscarawas County Fair: Diana explained the two booths. We have the ADC booth under the grandstand & we have a marijuana booth that that is separate that will just collect surveys for our marijuana data. This data is how the community sees marijuana. People usually play a game and get a prize if they fill out a survey. Connie will send out the volunteer link next week for anyone who still wants to volunteer to work an open shift. October 5th PAC event “Clear the Air”- Jodi reported that Ty Sells will be speaking in morning to 8th graders that are bussed in & in the afternoon there will be a high school grade.  Special Thank you to Dean Bielski for providing the PAC for us to use & Chris Lane, our business sector rep, has reached out to area businesses & raised $6,500 for this event. Kerry provided information that there is an Ohio Ballot Initiative for recreational marijuana legalization from the Coalition to Regulate Marijuana Like Alcohol (CTRMLA). The ballot initiative has been approved by Attorney General Yost as to the language being “fair and truthful.” The ballot board has approved it as to the single subject rule. The CTRMLA can now go out and collect 132,000 signatures to bring it before the General Assembly for action. This ballot initiative is written to flip the medical dispensaries into recreational dispensaries. So some of the work of the committee is to reach out to our local elected officials to educate them on this ballot initiative and implications it might have on our communities. House Bill 210 & 382: are also on the table for possible action by the General Assembly to legalize recreational marijuana in Ohio.  The Legislature might want to legalize so that they would be in control of recreational marijuana legislation as opposed to the ballot initiative controlling legalization.. Jodi discussed the Marijuana Position Paper that we have and how that is a good resource and starting point for the Marijuana Committee. Again, if you are interested in serving on a committee the Marijuana Committee is looking for more committee members.

Prescription Drug Committee Medication Safety Box: Jodi showed those present what the boxes looked like and explained that we would have only a few at the fair, but to only give out if you see the person is in real need for them. If people are requesting boxes, let them know that they can be picked up at the OhioGuidestone Prevention office located in the United Way building. This is as the boxes cost $11 and we want to be sure people want the boxes and not just “free” stuff. We have had a steady stream of requests for the boxes from area schools, agencies and organizations.  We have just ordered 300 in the past couple of months. Pharmacy Bags: Medi-Wise Pharmacy has received shipment of pharmacy bags. They will be disseminated to area pharmacies and are to be dispensed the 30 days before each of the Drug Take Back Days in April & October of each year (as the bags promote the take back events). We have enough for a year and a half.  National Drug Take Back Day is October 23, 2021 from 10-2 at Union and Trinity. We will be in need of volunteers for this event. 

Tobacco/Vaping Committee–Dover Council-Quit Line POS posting: Autumn reported that she is just waiting on the final vote. Apportis: Diana & Autumn are working on this. It is Web Platform that we sponsor at Claymont schools using a low band—high speed internet is not needed. Community Project: Need 250 completed surveys to be completed. Connie will resend out to all ADC members and friends next week so anyone that hasn’t taken it, can. Autumn is still in need of more input.

Media Committee: Michaela is back from maternity leave and has been hard at work.  She has written “Talk, We Hear You Campaign” press release, HOPE Sunday, HOPE Line and the Project Hope press releases along with one around Perci Gardner & Chris Lane being new members on the State Prevention Action Alliance (PAA) Board of Directors, as well as a press release about proclamations for Overdose Awareness Day August 31st & National Recovery Month. 

Old Business:  HOPE Sunday—Connie reported that there were approximately 121 churches participating with at least 29 of them being Carroll & surrounding counties. She thanked all those who worked so hard to make this another successful year. Especially thanking Gerald Sanders who would be the top volunteer for his tireless work and Peggy Leslie & her Harcatus crew for making calls & stuffing bags! Rick did a great job on the video and a special thanks to Mark Murphy, who really went above & beyond with trying to get the Bolivar/Zoar churches involved, as well as a couple of the other larger area ones. He really brought his community together. We had over 8,000 bulletins ordered and used. Jodi thanked Connie, as well for heading this campaign. Diana will put all four videos on the ADC Facebook page this afternoon so anyone wanting to see them in order—can do so as this was a great tool to take each video and reshow. In addition, thanks goes out to Governor DeWine’s office. We received $30,000 that was used for Faith Based Projects. This allowed everyone to catch up or refresh. This year, HOPE Sunday drove individuals & churches a step further-to participate in Field of Freedom. Project Hope—Tuscarawas County had it’s highest count of overdoses & suicides during 2020 which caused the launch of Project Hope in 2020. It ended up being a wonderful campaign to educate and bring awareness around addiction and resources. This is the campaign with the silhouettes. We are going to launch the 2nd annual Project Hope/ Silhouette Project on August 21st. We have three different colored silhouettes set up in 10 cities in the county. Each city that had an overdose death receives three silhouettes. A gray silhouette has the number of overdoses specifically for that town or village, a black silhouette shows the number of of overdose deaths in the county and a yellow silhouette is of a family and it has a message of hope on it. The numbers on the silhouettes reflect the first six months of 2021. In addition to the silhouettes, a yard sign is placed with the silhouettes that promote the HOPE Line, so people can access help. It was such a success that people were impacted by this visual in 2020, we are hoping that it continues to educate, create awareness and help people find help. 

Brochures were passed around that were made by each committee for those able to see as it was our first in person meeting and many might not have seen the new ADC brochures. All the committees have their brochures completed.

New Business:  Field of Freedom. This will be a 3-day event, on the afternoons of September 17-19, with speakers & bands. Some of the $30,000 for the Governor’s Faith Based and Communities Initiatives grant, has been spent on the advertising and for the stage needed for this event. Booths will be set-up as resource tables. It is being held on Rt 39 just off of Rt 77. Countywide School Survey—five of the schools in Tuscarawas County will be back taking this survey the first week of October. The last survey was in 2018 because of the pandemic. This should help us pinpoint what is going on with our young people, and we should receive the student survey data by February 2022. This will direct us on how we should plan and guide our logic models in the future. Piper agreed that she believes there has been a lot of changes in how the students perceive the dangers and if they really care. 

922 Initiative—Diana asked that anyone wanting to set-up a resource booth at the Dennison/Uhrichsville Craft Show on October 9th to let her know.

Connie made a motion to adjourn and all voted yes at 11:34 AM. Diana seconded.

Next Board Meeting will be held on Friday, October 1 from 10:00-11:30 at the Tuscarawas County Convention & Visitors Bureau. This will also be a hybrid meeting.