Mission: Through partnerships, we empower the community to prevent the misuse of alcohol, tobacco, and other drugs and we work to reduce the overall impact of these substances in Fayette County.
Meeting Minutes for Tuesday, January 19, 2021 – Meeting held via Zoom at 8:30am
Attendees:
Amy Baker – City of Lexington, Andrea James – City of Lexington, Lisa Prewitt- Peace Hospital, Emily McCarthy – New Vista, Karma Bryan, Shawn Freeman – New Vista, Relisha Howard – Fayette County Detention Center. Katie Gross – New Vista, John Broadus – Seven Counties, Elizabeth Valett – New Vista, Scott LuAllen, City of Lexington, John Moses – Health Department, Rebecca Banks – New Vista, Alyesse Coonrod – Kentucky Moms Program at New Vista, Ciera Bowman – Fayette Co. Drug Court, TC Johnson – Winburn Elementary, Amy Cowley, Jill Chenault Wilson – Parks and Recreation, Emily Greene, Remy Ford, Sierrah Miley – #ICanEndTheTrend, Brittany Thompson – Groups Recover Together, Diana Doggett, Brandon Muravchic – Lexington Police, Matt Greathouse – Lexington Police, Jani Combs Lewis.
New Attendees Contact Information from Chat Box:
Jenna Ward, Youth Empowerment Specialist at New Vista – jenna.ward@newvista.org
Remy Ford, UK Graduate Student – remy.ford@uky.edu
Sierrah Miley, #ICanEndTheTrend at UK
Jessica Osborne, Recovery Oriented System of Care (ROSC) Coordinator at New Vista – jessica.osborne@newvista.org
Emily Greene – Groups Recover Together – emily.greene@joingroups.com
Member Update – Ciera Bpwman with Fayette County Drug Court will be moving to Henry and the new Family Resource and Youth Services Coordinator.
Budget Update – Amy Baker
The budget carryover has been approved now and we can proceed with projects as planned. We have DrugFreeLex tote bags available for those working with substance use clients who needs bags for their belongings. Email Emily McCarthy at New Vista to request bags at emily.mccarthy@newvista.org.
JUULing PSA Update – Karma Bryan
The former marijuana group of DrugFreeLex that has been in existence for more than 15 years started out wanting to focus on youth prevention of nicotine and tobacco products. 2019 data tells us that heroin and smoking is down 55% among youth. Vaping has replaced smoking now among youth. Parents and teachers are looking for information. We know that new products have very high levels of nicotine and can be very addictive. Many parents are reporting withdrawal symptoms in their children, even those that have never smoked. So the new focus for the group is on helping parents and educators learn more about how harmful these products are. In 2018, a production team from Spectrum cable was hired to help produce 3 PSAs on vaping. They quickly became outdated due to some legal changes and the types of products in the market. Now, we have partnered with UK’s #Icanendthetrend program to revise these PSAs. Sierrah Miller and her team will handle the production of 3 new videos. $7,000 is approved for this project for production and marketing of the videos. Amy Baker will supply the paperwork to get started.
Minority Mental Health Summit Update – John Broadus
We met with the team at New Vista to talk about how to engage youth and host this summit for Jefferson and Fayette Counties. We plan for this to be a virtual event, but we might break it into a 4-part series so youth do not have to be on zoom for too long at a time. Looking for ideas to incentivize them to attend when it’s a virtual event. Looking at March, April, May June and end in July to coincide with Minority Mental Health Month. TC Johnson offered to help out with incentives, as she still has goals to meet within her own school to engage youth. Most agree that it cannot be held during school, just too hard to engage them and keep their attention. Would also like to get feedback from the group on local clubs and youth groups to help engage students for this event. Jill Chenault Wilson and Andrea James will email John Broadus some ideas. Ciera Bowman suggested contacting Woodhill Community Center. Andrea James requested a flier on the event and what we are asking from these youth groups/other community organizations. Committee meeting to be held today and will discuss plans in more detail.
Fayette County Detention Center Update – Relisha Howard
Detention center had some recent changes in leadership, and a significant outbreak of COVID-19. We have recently submitted a grant for approval, waiting to find out on that. We have started a new program to help veterans as well. We are also partnering with the HEALing communities grant staff to get naloxone and training inside the detention center. The SAP program is currently not in place due to COVID concerns. Vaccine is now being made available to us.
HEALing Communities Grant Update – Andrea James
We are now in Phase 5, the implantation phase of the grant. We started out focused on opioids, realizing quickly that there are many other substances of concern to be aware of, but the HEAL grant is focused on reducing opioid deaths. Medication disposal boxes are being distributed in the community, many in places that have never had them. We also developed the resource guide that has been emailed out now to DFL members. This is important to share out as you can, to connect people to community resources, emergency contacts and treatment providers. The grant was allowed a 6-month extension due to COVID delays, and some additional funding as well. Please reach out to Andrea James for questions or more information on the grant. They need help getting the word out, and letting people know about the work being done.
Legislation Update – Methadone is now covered under Medicaid, allowing greater access for opioid use disorder. New legislation has also been proposed that naloxone should be a co-prescription with any medication assisted treatment medication. Sign up for bill watch with the state of Kentucky to stay up-to-date on these issues.
Subcommittees Update – Shawn Freeman and Emily McCarthy
We encourage everyone serving on DrugFreeLex to sign up for a subcommittee to help us achieve our goals and come up with new ways to engage our community. We will be sending out an email soon to the entire DFL membership with final committee names and then you can email back with what subcommittees you would like to serve on.
Harm Reduction Update – John Moses
We have moved the needle exchange program outside and are practicing social distancing guidelines to keep everyone safe. We are still doing HIV/HEP C testing on-site, as well as distributing naloxone. We are currently NOT going into the jail due to concerns of spreading infection.
Motion to adjourn meeting at 10:00am by Amy Baker, Second by Shawn Freeman.
NEXT MEETING will be in March 16 2021, update will be sent via email.
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