Garrett County Drug Free Communities Coalition

Garrett County Drug Free Communities Coalition
Our Vision:
A safe and drug free Garrett County
The mission of the Garrett County Drug Free Communities Coalition is the reduction and prevention of substance abuse. This is accomplished by promoting
youth substance abuse prevention strategies, adding or improving treatment and recovery opportunities, and encouraging healthy lifestyles.
Minutes: March 4, 2015
Members Present:
Catrina Aquilino, Alan Arnson, Kathy Beals, Anna Bishop, Phil Lauver, Kerrie Margroff, Kendra McLaughlin, Sandy Miller,
Fred Polce Jr., Brooke Schneider, Loriann Ludwig for Judge Strubin, and Lisa Thayer Welch
Members Excused: Rick DeWitt, Rodney Glotfelty, Matthew Paugh, and Ray Strubin
Members Absent:
Angie Brant, Rob Corley, James Maddy, Les McDaniel, Judge Moylan, Debbe Owston, Bob Peters, Madonna Pool, and
Jackalynn Wolf
Guests: Melissa King, Sadie Liller, Brenda Sisler, and Janice Winebrenner
Administrative/Support: Bob Stephens
Call to Order:
The Chairperson, Lisa Thayer Welch called the meeting to order at 11:55 a.m.
Approval of Minutes (1/7/15):
Kendra McLaughlin noted a correction to her report for the Tobacco Free Coalition. It should read GEARS instead of First
Lego League. Anna Bishop made a motion to accept the minutes with the correction for the 1/7/15 meeting. Phil Lauver
seconded. All were in favor. None opposed. The minutes were approved with the correction.
Ongoing Business
Combating Underage Drinking
(None)
Drug Free Communities
Fred Polce reported that the Overdose Fatality Review Panel had their initial meeting on February 4, 2015. Three
additional people were recommended to have letters sent to be part of the team. Kathy Beals, Mike Ross Supervisor of
the Drug Task Force, and Wayne Tiemersma Emergency Medical Services Director. The team decided to process all 2013
deaths then do 2014 deaths. They are going to ask for all the substances checked for, all drugs found in the body, and
the toxicity level of each as well as any co-morbidity medical conditions they might have had at the time of death.
Sandy Miller reported that when Steve Sherrard spoke with the Maryland Department of the Environment they said it is
fine to incinerate drugs with a small incinerator. She let Sheriff Corley know. The Sheriff’s Office and the Maryland State
Police will share the incinerator for Prescription Drug Disposal. The incinerator still has to be ordered and some
paperwork and formalities dealt with. Sandy also encouraged everyone to do the Maryland Opioid Misuse Prevention
Survey. They want to disperse it through-out the county as best they can. The data from the survey will be used for the
Strategic Plan they have to do for the Overdose Prevention Program grant. They are in the process of doing a needs
assessment, some of the data will be used for that as well as data from the Evaluation Team. Some information will also
be used by the communication firm that is going to do the county wide communication campaign on Opioid Misuse.
Brenda Sisler handed out flyers for the next Community Café scheduled for March 23rd in Friendsville. It will start out as
a traveling Community Café. After going to all the different communities they will have one on each end of the county
and rotate each month.
Kendra McLaughlin said they were very pleased with the outcome of the first Community Café. One thing they ask those
in attendance to do was help pick a logo for the Drug Free Communities Coalition. Kendra passed around depictions of
the logos for coalition members to vote on. The logo will be used for anything that the coalition does, letterhead, web
site, etc. She also passed out a draft of the nomination form for the Prevention Partner Award. They would like to start
an Annual Garrett County Outstanding Prevention Partner Award to be given out at the Garrett County Health Fair. The
purpose of the award is to recognize the individual, business or organization that has made a significant contribution
toward creating healthier places to live, work and receive care in Garrett County. They plan to review any nominations
they get on March 30th so the winner can be notified in time for the Health Fair. She asked for volunteers to help select
the winner.
Sadie Liller reported on the Mind Your Meds Campaign. They kicked off last month by doing a billboard located across
from Team One, a radio ad, and a movie slide. A Prescription Plinkco game was created for outreach workers to use in
their effort to educate the public about the dangers of prescription drug abuse, how to safely dispose of unwanted
prescriptions, and to let them know where the drop boxes are located. Diane is working on a tool kit for businesses that
outreach workers work with. The game that was created will also be used at the Health Fair booth. Everybody has a
Mind Your Meds pledge form. When people sign their pledge they get a magnet for their fridge. When forms are
returned the outreach worker goes over the pledge with them re affirming what they have pledged to do, they are also
entered in a drawing for a HP Tablet. Sadie has partnered with Long and Foster and Caldwell Banker reality companies.
She will be giving them info for open houses, plus they will get a lockbox for home owners to lock up their meds during
an open house. Also a flyer has been created for home owners on how to safe guard their meds when an outside
vender, such as a plumber, is coming in. There is an article announcing the campaign in this week’s paper. She is to meet
with the reality companies on March 12 and there will be an article spot lighting them probably the next week.
Tobacco Free Coalition
(None)
New Business
Brooke Schneider reported on the ASO or Administrative Services Organization. It’s the insurance company that steers
authorizations for treatment. The ASO for substance abuse is the same as the ASO for mental health. They will approve,
authorize and pay for treatment as part of the fee for service system that they moved to on January 1, 2015. The state of
Maryland selected Value Options as the ASO. When someone comes for treatment they collect insurance information
through the ASO to provide a certain level of treatment for that person. The ASO paperwork is done on each person at
intake and takes 15 to 20 minutes to complete. It is some of the same data previously collected in the SMART system.
The initial authorization is usually for 12 units of treatment which is two 1 ½ hour sessions.
Bob Stephens reported on the Treatment Grants. With the advent of the ASO’s going fee for service it was thought there
wouldn’t be as many treatment grants available. The BHA has postponed that for at least one year. That treatment
programs include: Prevention Program (Level 0.5) which is they have identified a person as high risk for alcohol or drug
abuse based on family or behaviors but they do not meet criteria for treatment. Out-patient (Level 1), offered in
Grantsville, Oakland, and the jail program. In a fee for service system there are no fees that pay for treatment in a jail
based system but they are going to continue to offer that. Intensive Out-Patient (Level 2.5) is the highest level of care in
the county. It meets four afternoons a week, lasting 9 -11 hours per week, individual and group sessions, offered in
Oakland only. They have an agreement with Dr. Miller that everyone he has in Saboxone Treatment who lives in
Maryland are required to come to treatment with the Health Department. Recovery Coaching helps a person get
supports in place to work on recovery. One service that started last year and is the Opioid Response Program (Naloxone
training). There have been 33 people go through the training so far, of those 21 where for occupations, 3 law
enforcement, 4 volunteer work and 2 for family members. If an organization has around 10 people who would like to
have the training they will go there to train them. They have also targeted some dollars to help with accreditation.
Sandy Miller reported on the Prevention Grant. They received the $258,000 again this year. They have a Second Step
Program, 4 SADD groups in the schools, Retail Access which continues to include enforcement compliance checks, and
the Sticker Shock Program. For social availability they picked up a SPF social access program with the TIPS for
Concessions. A lot of the non-profits are coming to them for the training now. The SPF grant will end this year. The state
is supposed to write a grant to SAMSHA to get funding to apply for under-age drinking. Garrett County was selected to
be part of the grant it is $125,000 for five years. The SPF grant is a lot of work so the first thing they did was contact their
Prevention Program Manager to see if they had to do the same as the last four or five years. He said they could hire a
100% Prevention Coordinator to implement those funds as well as they don’t have to have a 501(c) 3 to implement all
the programs. They will have Rodney Glotfelty provide the letter of support to the state. They probably won’t start
strategies until September or October.
Lisa Thayer Welch asked if they would have any money available for After Prom as the Highway Traffic money is no
longer available. Brenda Sisler said she will know in another week or two. They have one SPF community that needs to
give money back and they were thinking of redistributing that for After Prom.
Announcements:
A Free Opioid Overdose Response Training will be held Thursday, March 26th at 2:30 p.m. in the GCHD Conference
Rooms.
TIPS for Concessions Training at the American Legion on Monday, March 9th. It is almost full capacity, they have
volunteers coming from Oakland VFD, Oakland/Deer Park Lions Club, and the Chamber of Commerce.
The June DFCC meeting has been rescheduled to June 3rd.
Adjourn: The Chairperson moved to adjourn, the meeting was adjourned at 12:45 p.m.
Next Scheduled Meeting
The next scheduled meeting of the Drug Free Communities Coalition will be held on Wednesday, April 8, 2015 at 11:30
a.m. in the conference room of the Garrett County Health Department. A light lunch will be provided
Submitted By:
Rob Corley, Secretary
Recorded by: Janice Winebrenner