Substance Use Prevention Coalition Addresses Resource Concerns at June Meeting

 

[June 17, 2024] 

The Substance Use Prevention Coalition convened for its June meeting at Lincoln Memorial Hospital. Members of vested organizations shared prevention and harm reduction updates, as well as discussed concerns for the future of substance use prevention and supports in light of upcoming discontinuance of state grants and funding.

Prevention

The youth vaping and alcohol campaigns have concluded as the school year has finished. Scheduling is beginning for the coming school year and 2025. The youth prevention campaigns will resume in August. The Illinois Youth Survey data for Logan County will be available in September. Youth prevention education will start scheduling in September

Harm Reduction

Mt. Pulaski library has free naloxone and testing strips as well as the vending machine at Family Custom Cleaners in Lincoln. The vending machine has distributed 688 naloxone, 687 fentanyl test strips, 587 xylazine test strips, and 115 benzo test strips.

Recovery Oriented Systems of Care (ROSC) reported that the Sheriff is open to ROSC donating resource bags for those released from the jail. The resource bags would include naloxone, testing strips, and information cards about agencies and organizations. Inmates are not staying as long in jail, so this is a way to provide assistance.

ROSC events coming up in June include booths at First Friday in Havana, Second Friday in Mt. Pulaski, and Third Friday in Lincoln. ROSC is planning to host a free screening of the movie “Inside Out 2” for families because of its connection to mental health. The Arlee Theater in Mason City is confirmed for June 29 at 7 p.m. They are waiting on confirmation for a screening in Lincoln. In July, ROSC will host a summer speaker jam. August 31 is Overdose Awareness Day with an Overdose Awareness panel planned of those who have been saved by naloxone or who have administered naloxone. Recovery walks are scheduled on September 7 in Lincoln and on September 14 in Havana. September 21 is the first National Youth Recovery Rally, and people will be coming from all over the world to Chicago for the rally.

ROSC partners with the Lincoln jail for recovery meetings. They are always looking for volunteers to conduct recovery meetings at the jail. The local Crisis Response team and jail have an opportunity to further their relationship as Crisis Response has mental health hours allotted.

In Mason county, ROSC is working on getting harm reduction available and building relationships and starting conversations around stigma. ROSC is also working on a stigma reduction campaign on social media and in the community so that people will be comfortable talking about recovery. The ROSC council meets the third Thursday of every month on Zoom, with plans to transition to a hybrid meeting. The subcommittee of Recovery in Action meets the second Tuesday of every month at Hope on Fifth.

Molly McCain, Community Health Coordinator at Lincoln Memorial Hospital, is working on the text campaign for high school freshmen to begin next school year. She is working on cards and flyers to use for advertising and on content for the texts. The Behavioral Health Crisis conference was conducted earlier in the week addressing topics such as wrap around services and Mobile Crisis Units. “Tall Cop Says Stop” training is conducted by a police officer who is a dynamic speaker with extensive information that is continually updated. He also has a podcast.

The environmental scan is ongoing with some changes because some businesses have closed. Plans are to finish the scan this summer by August 1.

Hope on Fifth will be having a hybrid meeting on June 28 about moving forward. Carle is figuring out logistics for offering services at the site. A veterans’ peer support group and a veterans’ recovery meeting are hosted there. There is an ongoing AA meeting at Trinity Episcopal Church. Joe Schaler’s untimely passing, whose dream and whose efforts played a major role in bringing Hope on Fifth to fruition, has caused apprehension, but rather it should rally support in the spirit of his goals and passions for this community. More regular updates from Hope on Fifth are forthcoming.

SUPC members discussed ideas and possibilities for filling the gap being left by the end of the grant for the Warm Hand Off Advocate who assesses substance use and provides support at the hospital and in the emergency room setting. Discussion continued of how to strengthen existing supports and how to build more. Additional options were offered regarding directed conversations and motivational interview training as potential strategies.

The next SUPC meeting will be July 11 at LMH. The next quarterly Community Health Collaborative networking meeting is September 5 at LMH. LMH will host a free Trauma-Informed Training at LMH on June 20; registration is required.

[Stephanie Hall]