Drug Free News

A BI-MONTHLY JOURNAL

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Our Mission...
March April 2012

To reduce substance abuse among youth and reduce substance abuse over the entire population of Muskegon County

Celebrating the Work of the People

Inside this issue:

A Letter from the Chair In The News... Muskegon ALI KnowSmoke Youth Development Network Muskegon Area Medical Disposal Program Substance Abuse Treatment MiPHY Completed Save The Date... 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 7 7

eginning my stay as chair of the Drug Free Coalition almost two years

exercise that is raising drug awareness, challenging physician prescribing practices, and encouraging personal responsibility. Both of these point towards a greater picture: one that demonstrates the unique possibilities available when passion meets movement in the collective work of the people. Wendell Berry once said, ...the pur-

ago in May, the Smoke Free Air Law was being passed into a policy. It was a very significant decision that would raise the expectation for the health and wellness of our community and the people we could become. Since that time I have continued to be surprised and humbled by the work of the many people in this coalition to create a better Muskegon. I honor the long days of dreaming and planning, the frustrating grounds in which ideas are tried, tested, and trued, and I celebrate with you the fruits of all of your labor, seen and not seen. It is your hard work that has helped this town become a better version of itself. Since the smoke free policy was put in place weve seen harmful chemicals in abiding bars and restaurants become almost non existent. We experienced a community effort to properly dispose of their medication, an

pose of a coherent community, fully alive both in the world and in the minds of its members, can carry us beyond fragmentation, contradiction, and negativity, teaching us to preserve, not in opposition but in affirmation and affection, all things needful to make us glad to live." Thank you for the honor that it is to be your chair and may you be reminded that the hope you have for this community is the very seed that can help it grow into the thriving community we know it can be. -Kate Kesteloot-Scarbrough
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The coalition is funded by the office of national Drug Control Policy

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Drug Free Muskegon News

Norton Shores Police Department Recognized by Michigan Association Chiefs of Police

n Thursday, Feb 16th, the Michigan Association of Chiefs

campaign on drinking and driving since 2009, but was looking for a new approach to inform area youth on all the consequences of drinking. The Face the Book program shared legal and other consequences of alcohol consumption as well as drinking and driving. Lt. Gale served as the 2011Chaiman of Muskegon ALI and helped facilitate the messag-

of Police presented the 2011 Excellence in Traffic Safety Grand Prize award to the Norton Shores Police Department on behalf of its multiple youth educational initiatives in community and at Mona Shores Public Schools. Norton Shores has been

actively engaged with school officials and youth leadership classes to develop programs designed to curb underage drinking. The award also noted Norton

Shores leadership for the Muskegon Alcohol Liability Initiatives (Muskegon ALI) educational program Face the Book. We were thrilled to get the award on behalf of Norton Shores and our partners from Muskegon ALI, said Lt. Jon Gale of the Norton Shores Police who made nomination on behalf of the community. The realities of alcohol offenses go beyond the initial crash or citation and we need to work with the schools, parents and students to provide this information. Muskegon ALI, the multijurisdictional law enforcement and prevention collaborative, has developed an annual pre prom
Mike Prince, Director Michigan OHSP; Lt. Jon Gale; Chief Dan Shaw, Norton Shores Police and Jack Peete; Traffic Safety Director AAA at awards ceremony

ing for the campaign. Provision Media designed the original brochures and banners for distribution to the local school districts and Revel Marketing assisted in getting the message out to the community at large with a Facebook page and media campaign. The 2012 Face the Book campaign has much of the same information but with a slightly different design with distribution to the schools during Alcohol Awareness Month in April. Muskegon ALI is a subcommittee of the Coalition for a Drug Free Muskegon County facilitated by the Muskegon Community Health Project.
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Drug Free Muskegon News

Alcohol Retailer Education Training

n partnership with Public Health Muskegon County, Muskegon ALI hosted an alcohol vendor training event for

licensed beverage holders to a vendor education at Baker Colleges Culinary Institute on February 22nd. Over 40 Muskegon area bar and restaurant employees attended this event featuring staff from the Michigan Liquor Control

Commission, Muskegon Police Department, Norton Shores Police Department and Public Healths TIPS Training. The vendor education subcommittee put together 300 vendor education packages that will be distributed by law enforcement personnel through March.
Jon Demol (Public Health) with Abby Anderson (Liquor Control) at the Baker Culinary Institute

Welcome Chief Jeffrey Lewis

The Coalition for a Drug Free Muskegon would like to welcome newly appointed City of Muskegon Public Safety Director Jeffrey Lewis to the coalition. Chief Lewis brings more than 30 years of law

Parent Forum on Alcohol

Featuring SADD Founder Bob Anastas
Muskegon ALI & the Coalition for a Drug Free Muskegon County will once again be hosting the Parent Forum on Underage Drinking and Drunk Driving and on Thursday, April 19th at 7 p.m. in the Mona Shores High School Auditorium. The meeting, targeting middle and high school parents, features a presentation by SADD founder Bob Anastas. Mr. Anastas founded the national Students Against Drunk Driving and is a nationally recognized speaker. One lucky participant will win a Kindle Fire. This is one of over 1,400 Town Hall meetings throughout the country and is listed on the National Town Hall meeting webpage at www.stopalcoholabuse.gov/townhallmeetings.

enforcement

experience to his new

position including 6 years as the Milan Chief of Police. Of his new position in Muskegon, Chief Lewis said, I am honored and appreciate the opportunity to serve as public safety director for the city of Muskegon. I see great things ahead for our community, and will do everything in my power to enhance our public safety services that we provide.

Meet the Muskegon ALI Chair

n January of 2012, Public Health Educator Jon Demol, was voted in as the new chair of Muskegon ALI. Jon offers over twelve years of

prevention and education experience, particularly adding his most recent experience of Retailer Technical Assistance which is work geared towards helping alcohol retailers think critically and responsibly about how they operate their business and sell their products. Demol reflects the group effort that is Muskegon ALI by reflecting, I think its important to understand about ALI that its no single activity, but the synergy of all the activities that helps ALI achieve its mission. The coalition is grateful to have his leadership.

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Drug Free Muskegon News

No on Tobacco

Kick Butts Day

Come join KnowSmoke Chairperson, Amy Forward, and Cyndi Powers as they promote Kick Butts Day at The Ride on March 17th as part of the Lakeshore Family Health Expo at the Lakes Mall, 5600 Harvey St. from 10:00 a.m. to 3:00 p.m. Attendees will receive information on quitting smoking, smoking cessation options, along with information on how to make a healthier lifestyle change. Kick Butts Day is a nationwide initiative coordinated by the Campaign for Tobacco-Free Kids that helps encourage kids to be leaders in the effort to stop youth tobacco use.

obacco statistics alarmingly demonstrate that every day more than 4,000 kids try their first cigarette while

another 1,000 kids become addicted smokers. For these reasons Lakershore Lung Program Manager, Cyndi Powers, is stepping up to meet this challenge through the N-O-T (No On Tobacco) Program. No on Tobacco is a smoking cessation program for teenagers 16-18 in local area high schools. Through a ten-week program developed by the American Lung Association, Ms. Powers will facilitate weekly meetings with students at various local high schools through-out the program covering: reasons for smoking, preparing to quit, nicotine addiction and withdrawal, how to access and maintain social support, coping with stress, and preventing relapses. We want to empower our youth to lead strong healthy lives so we not only teach strategies for successful smoking

Breathing Easy in Michigan

Almost two years since the Smoke Free Policy, studies are continuing to show cleaner air quality in bars and restaurants across the state. Recent studies have shown a drastic decrease in a substance called PM2.5, a fine-particle air pollutant considered extremely toxic, in forty bars across eleven counties in Michigan. Pre-ban data revealed establishments measuring almost four times above the EPA suggested maximum exposure level. Since the ban, state wide data shows a drastic reduction in PM2.5 to almost non existent levels in most of the establishments investigated. For more information visit: http://www.michigan.gov/documents/mdch/

Every day, more than 4,000 kids try their first cigarette; another 1,000 kids become addicted.

cessation but also equip our teenagers with life

management skills relating to stress management, decision making, and healthy peer and family relationships, says Ms. Powers. A national evaluation of this

program has demonstrated a quit smoking rate of 31% and 50% of non-quitters reduced their per day cigarette usage by half. Thank you to Ms. Powers for her work in promoting teen help through the N-O-T program.

New to the Team!

KnowSmoke and the Coalition for a Drug Free Muskegon would like to welcome new Public Health Educator, Missy Gallegos to the team! Missy will be focusing on tobacco and prescriptions drugs. Welcome Missy!

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Youth Development Network

Youth at the Front Through Service learning

n Friday, January 6th, over 50 front line youth prevention workers gathered in the Louis McMurry Confer-

X vs Y
If youve ever lamented the good old days by accusing text messaging of being impersonal and a poor substitute for interpersonal interaction, youre probably a baby boomer/ Gen Xer. But for a teenager (Gen Y) this technological evolution is very much a cultural transformation with unprecedented instant access to technology, social mediums, news, and information as the catalyst. One does not have to go very far to see the ways in which this transformation, especially amongst teenagers, can create barriers and conflict in the way that generations engage these emerging values. Recognizing that these differences create opportunities to foster understanding and common ground, the Youth Development Network through the leadership of YDN Chair and Public Health Educator, Poppy Siaz Hernandez, is facilitating a service learning opportunity for teenagers and

ence Center to participate in a course called, Building Community with Youth Through Service Learning, project based learning which orients adults to encourage youth-centered learning projects. When adults stop assuming that they know what's important to youth and what they should [care] about they allow students to begin thinking for themselves about those issues and that leads to higher level learning based on internal relevance/motivation that can never be imposed by another individual said Joanna Christopherson, Program Director of the 21st Century afterschool program in Muskegon. The meeting also prompted additional discussion for coordination of youth groups to do a broader service learning project in Muskegon. Stay tuned... Training was facilitated by Dr. Lynn Malinoff (Eastern Michigan University). Malinoff brings 35 years in K-12 education as a general and special education teacher, grant writer, program developer and as an agent for change. She is also the director of Eastern Michigan Universitys 21st Century Community Learning Centers Program developing programs for at-risk youth with a focus on mentoring and servicelearning.

adults called X and Y to bring both adults and teenagers to the table to seek value in our similarities and our differences. Its a great step in bridging the obvious gap that exists and the goal is for adults to take the information they learn and apply it in their daily work with youth through recognizing the benefits of youth-led projects, said Lori Trautner of Every Womans Place. Poppy adds that, Its exciting to think about authentic partnerships with youth that lead to all of us growing in our understanding and effectiveness in our work. This opportunity will be available later on in May. Contact Poppy Siaz Hernandez for more information:

[hernandezpo@co.muskegon.mi.us]
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group had to guarantee that law enforcement closely monitor collections. Captain Michael Poulin of the Sheriffs Department facilitated communications with the DEA, lfire departments hosting events and coordinated law enforce-

A Community Collaboration Success Story

The Muskegon Area Medication Disposal Project is a partnership between several organizations and initiatives in Muskegon County that is truly a collaborative success story that impacts safety, the environment, and the health of Muskegon County residents. The Coalition for a Drug Free Muskegon had significant interest with local law enforcement members indicating a substantial increase in break-ins due to drug seeking behaviors and the 2009 Muskegon County Youth Risk Behavior (YRBS) student survey revealed that 17.4% of youth were trying medications that were not prescribed to them. At the same time, Lakeshore Health Network (LHN)s Provider Services Coordinator, Carrie Uthe, began investigating other take back programs to provide education for their physician members. MCHPs Pharmacy Access Coalition, lead by Stevi Riel discovered that several patients were using expired medications. We immediately recognized an opportunity to serve multiple purposes with a single process, said MCHPs Coalition for a Drug Free coordinator, Laura Fitzpatrick. It helped to have the Drug Free Coalition members taking leadership in the process, especially since members were already working with each other on multiple issues. In September 2009, the group met for the first time, establishing working subcommittees that included public relations, resource development and disposal take back events. Mercy Health Partners PR & Communications team branded the project and developed a communications plan to promote the initiatives.

ment agencies required to participate. Over the past two years, each event scheduled at a local fire station, has a variety of volunteers who greet and collect medications, law enforcement to monitor and collect controlled substances, pharmacists and pharmacy technicians who sort, count and record all the materials delivered. Early on, the group decided to collect participant data and count and categorize all the collected materials to educate and potentially influence policy and practices. To date over 400,000 pills were counted and classified at the one day events which has lead to additional education. The committee also established non-controlled collection locations in retail pharmacy settings, first with Mercy Health Partners Retail Pharmacies, Bensons, Watkins, and Pamida Pharmacies. For controlled medications, a subcommittee was formed to create boxes that would be distributed among all the law enforcement agencies. Lt. Jon Baker of the Muskegon Police Department and Capt. Poulin worked with a local sheet metal fabrication company to build the boxes which were recently placed in all eleven police agencies. The Sheriffs Department collects the materials on a monthly basis and Muskegon County Public Works disposes of the materials. While the one day events have been scaled back to two per year, the MAMDP efforts continue with enhanced physician education and continued public campaigns and further coordination with the Muskegon County Household Hazardous Waste Days. The next once day event is on Saturday, April 28th from 10 a.m 2 p.m at the Muskegon Fire Department on Terrace Street. For more information contact Carrie Uthe [uthec@trinity-

To collect controlled medications at the events, the MAMDP

health.org] or Laura FitzPatrick [fitzpalm@mchp.org]

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Drug Free Muskegon News

Kori White-Bissot Named LCC Interim Director

Kori White-Bissot was recently named interim director of the Lakeshore CoA message on treatment and prevention from committee chair, Mark Apman ordinating Council, one of 16 coordinating agencies created by the State of Michigan to coordinate and admin-

he Substance Abuse Treatment Collaborative of Muskegon County has been in existence for over a decade.

ister substance abuse services. Kori previously served as Director of Prevention and Community Planning for Lakeshore Coordinating Council (LCC). Kori has been instrumental in the local development of the Coalition for Drug Free Muskegon promoting comprehensive substance abuse prevention plans for each county, ensuring a cohesive thread among community

Originally Treatment and Prevention Collaboratives existed separately but eventually combined into one group. Gradually, the prevention side separated out and ceased to exist. With our current Treatment Collaborative, new energy has brought the Prevention piece back into the Treatment Collaborative and they are both currently very active. The Mission of the Treatment/Prevention Collaborative is to create and/or encourage adequate care for those individuals that seek treatment for substance abuse. Our focus has been to create a network of groups, agencies, and organizations that address substance abuse problems and promote communication between them. This is true currently for the prevention process for our community. We, as providers,

needs, planned services, and expected outcomes.

MiPHY Completed!
The Michigan Profile for Healthy Youth (MiPHY) student survey was recently completed in all 12 public school districts in Muskegon County. Members of this coalition's data committee were part of the MiPHY Implementation Team convened by the Community Coordinating Council to coordinate and facilitate the process. County reports, with no

have always needed to keep each other abreast of the services we provide our community. I have personally found that at each meeting I will learn of a new program or event that I was unaware was taking place. We are currently exploring the opportunities that exist around promoting the communication of services to our community. We all need to work to strip away the myths about addiction and reflect on the unfortunate reality that almost everyone has likely been personally affected in some way in their own extended families by addiction. Also in our attempt to encourage good communication we have been exploring the opportunities that exist through a Speakers Bureau. This is an exciting time for our collaborative and we hope you will decide to join us with your support, encouragement, and resources as we delve into new areas of focus as a cohesive group desiring a more whole and healthy Muskegon.

schools or districts identified, will be available from the Michigan Department of Education in June 2012. Thank you to all who helped in this process, especially MAISD leaders Jeanette Magsig and Sharon Zajac for encouraging all the schools to come on board and assisting with the Michigan Department of Education.

Save the Dates

Kick Butts Day: March 21st Kick Butts Awareness: 10-3 Part of The Ride and Lakeshore Health Fair hosted by the Lakes Mall Alcohol Awareness Month: April 2012 featuring: Parent Forum on Alcohol : April 19th, 7 Mona Shores high School Auditorium Medication Take Back: April 30th, 10-2 City of Muskegon Fire Department. Spring Break: April 2-6

Executive Committee:
DFC Chair: Kate Kesteloot-Scarborough, Mediation and Restorative Services Immediate Past Chair : I. John Snider, County of Muskegon Data Committee Sharon Zajac, MAISD Muskegon ALI: Jon Demol, Public Health Know Smoke: Amy Forward, Access Health Youth Development Network: Poppy Siaz-Hernandez, Public Health Substance Abuse Treatment Mark Apman, WM Therapy MAMDP Carrie Uthe, LHN Members At Large: Jill Montgomery-Keast, Public Health Joel Engel, Behavioral Health Services Rebecca Johnson

Help Share The Story...

Do you have an event you would like publicized in this newsletter? Would you like to acknowledge a community member for their efforts in advocating for a drug free Muskegon? Do you have pictures from a drug free event? Get involved and share your story!
Contact: Laura Fitzpatrick, Program Manager Muskegon Community Health Project Fitzpalm@mchp.org 231.672.3207

E-News...
Sign up to have this e-mailed to you on a regular basis...
[Contact Dave Nagel, PR and Communications Coordinator at the Muskegon Community Health Project: nageldw@trinityhealth.org].

Drug Free News Issue 01 March.April 2012

Muskegon Community Health Project 565 W. Western Avenue Muskegon, MI 49440 231-672-3207 DrugFreeMuskegon.com