Heroin News

PITTSON – Pennsylvania experienced a drop in fatal overdoses in 2018, an 18% decrease. However, according to a report from the U.S. Drug Enforcement Administration, there has been a decrease in some counties while the crisis has significantly increased in other parts of the commonwealth.

Part Four of Pennsylvania Public Media’s “Battling Opioids” television series focuses on new and current treatments. Viewers can hear personal stories of recovery from across the state in addition to an in-studio panel discussion moderated by Paola Giangiacomo.

Battling Opioids Part 4 will air on Thursday evening, Jan. 30 on Pennsylvania Public Television. See local channel listings for time.  

Panelists Include:

• Senator Gene Yaw who represents Pennsylvania’s 23rd Senatorial District.  Senator Yaw is also the Chairman of the Center for Rural Pennsylvania.
• Jesse Miller, Director of Drug and Alcohol Programs at Robinson Counseling Service Center of Wyoming Valley.
• John Jezick, a Community Recovery Specialist, with Treatment Trends in Allentown.
• Cammie Anderson, a certified prevention specialist and student assistant program trainer. 
• Maria Kolcharno, Director of Addiction Services at The Wright Center for Community Health. Ms. Kolcharno also supervises the Healthy Moms and the Opioid Use Disorder Center of Excellence Program.

Segments include:

• Blue Guardian program: Lehigh County’s Blue Guardian program pairs police with certified recovery specialists who visit individuals within a few days of being revived by naloxone. The goal of this program is to offer support to families and to encourage those struggling with addiction to seek recovery programs.
• PROSPER: The PROSPER program is an early intervention program that works with children and their families to help young people avoid substance abuse and behavioral problems.
• Back On My Feet: Therapists and researchers agree that there are benefits of exercise, which can help individuals in recovery maintain their sobriety. Donald Davalos has struggled with substance use for more than 20 years. He recently discovered Back on My Feet, a national nonprofit that serves people in recovery through organized running groups and other services.
• Neonatal NAS Program: Neonatal Abstinence Syndrome can occur in a newborn who was exposed to opiate drugs while in the mother’s womb. NAS is a program created to help expecting mothers that are addicted to opioids.

ABOUT:

Battling Opioids is a project of seven Pennsylvania Public Media stations. Pennsylvania has one of the highest opioid overdose death rates in the nation. Every day, thousands of Pennsylvanians—mothers, and fathers, children, neighbors—struggle to overcome addiction. Rural and urban, rich and poor, the opioid crisis affects all of us.

Neither people nor communities can fight this battle alone. Public media has a unique potential to connect Pennsylvanians across boundaries, and, in an unprecedented collaboration, we are doing just that. Our local reporting and programming have covered the opioid crisis for years—but now we are uniting to show you how Pennsylvanians statewide are confronting the epidemic of heroin and prescription opioid abuse. We are increasing awareness and empathy to reduce the stigma around opioid use, aid prevention, and help people find treatment.

Pennsylvania Public Media stations WHYY (Philadelphia), WITF (Harrisburg), WLVT/PBS39 (Greater Lehigh Valley), WPSU (State College), WQED (Pittsburgh), WQLN (Northwestern Pennsylvania), and VIA Public Media (Northeastern Pennsylvania) are collaborating to produce educational programming that focuses on the opioid crisis and its impact.

To listen to the Battling Opioids Podcast, visit battlingopioids.org/podcasts, or visit http://battlingopioids.org.

CONTACT: 

Jim Donnelly,

570.602.1145/jimdonnelly@wvia.org

HARRISBURG – The Center for Rural Pennsylvania, chaired by State Senator Gene Yaw, will hold a public hearing at the Commonwealth Keystone Building on Wednesday, September 25, on the heroin/opioid epidemic to gather information, including the status of and accessibility to the state’s Prescription Drug Monitoring Program (PDMP).

“The Center’s work continues as we hold our 16^th public hearing on Pennsylvania’s heroin/opioid crisis,” said Sen. Yaw. “The Center’s board is expecting an update on the PDMP, and how information in the database and other sources are being used at the local level for education, prevention and treatment efforts.”

The PDMP was established through Act 191 of 2014 to collect information on all filled prescriptions for controlled substances. The information collected helps health care providers safely prescribe controlled substances and it also helps patients get the treatment they need.

“The Center’s board remains committed to raising awareness about heroin/opioid addiction in Pennsylvania and helping inform and shape public policy to combat this public health crisis,” Sen. Yaw said. 

At the public hearing, Sen. Yaw will be joined by fellow Center Board Members: Board Vice Chairman Rep. Garth Everett; Board Secretary Dr. Nancy Falvo, Clarion University of Pennsylvania; Board Treasurer Stephen Brame, Governor’s representative; Sen. Katie Muth; Rep. Eddie Day Pashinski; Dr. Michael Driscoll, president of Indiana University of Pennsylvania; Dr. Lawrence Feick, University of Pittsburgh; Dr. Stephan Goetz, Northeast Regional Center for Rural Development; Dr. Timothy Kelsey, Pennsylvania State University; Shannon Munro, Pennsylvania College of Technology; Dr. Joseph Nairn, founding president of Northern Pennsylvania Regional College; and Darrin Youker, Governor’s representative.

Presenters are: Dr. Thomas Farley, Philadelphia County Health Department director; Melissa Lyon, Erie County Health Department director; Barbara Kovacs, York City Health Department director; Meghna Patel, deputy secretary of Health Innovation, and Jared Shinabery, PDMP director, Pennsylvania Department of Health; Dr. Janice Pringle, Program Evaluation and Research Unit director, University of Pittsburgh School of Pharmacy; and Michael Krafick, certified recovery specialist, Armstrong-Indiana-Clarion Drug and Alcohol Commission.

The public hearing will be held in the Commonwealth Keystone Building, Pennsylvania Public Utility Commission Hearing Room 5, 400 North St, Harrisburg, PA 17120, and will begin at 9 a.m.

The Center for Rural Pennsylvania is a bipartisan, bicameral legislative agency that serves as a resource for rural policy within the Pennsylvania General Assembly. The Center works with the legislature, educators, state and federal executive branch agencies, and national, statewide, regional and local organizations to maximize resources and strategies that can better serve Pennsylvania’s nearly 3.4 million rural residents.

CONTACT:

Barry Denk, Director or
Christine Caldara Piatos, Communications Manager
The Center for Rural Pennsylvania
(717) 787-9555

www.rural.palegislature.us
www.facebook.com/RuralPennsylvania
@CenterRuralPa

HARRISBURG – A new source of state help is available for grandparents raising their grandchildren in Pennsylvania, according to state Sen. Gene Yaw (R-23).

The Pennsylvania departments of Human Services and Aging have announced a new helpline for families in kinship care situations, including grandparents, aunts, uncles and siblings raising children because of the opioid crisis.

The KinConnector hotline is aimed at connecting families with available resources such as:  health, financial, and legal services; training; parenting advice; locating physical or behavioral health services; school enrollment; finding support groups, and other services designed to help caregivers.

Kinship Navigators will also be available to help families apply for federal, state, and local benefits such as Social Security, public assistance, or CHIP.

“Like other states, Pennsylvania is in the midst of one of the worst public health crises of our generation and now, as addiction and substance abuse continues to impact families across the state, grandparents are on the front lines of the epidemic,” Sen. Yaw said. “KinConnector will help further ease the burden on these families and provide them with additional tools and resources.”

The helpline was created by Act 89 of 2018, which established a kinship navigator program for Pennsylvania. KinConnector will act as a bridge that helps families identify resources, including gaining access to local, state, and federal resources.

KinConnector can be reached by calling 1-866-KIN-2111 (1-866-546-2111).  Assistance is available Monday through Thursday, 9 a.m. to 10 p.m., and Friday, 9 a.m. to 5 p.m.

The KinConnector helpline is staffed by Kinship Navigators–compassionate, knowledgeable social service professionals prepared to help families locate, understand, and access resources that may be able to help them. This helpline, however, is just the beginning. A website of resources is set to launch in late 2019.

For more information on resources available for kinship families and grandparents raising grandchildren, visit www.dhs.pa.gov.

For more state-related news and information visit Senator Yaw’s website at www.SenatorGeneYaw.com or on Facebook and Twitter @SenatorGeneYaw.

CONTACT:
Rita Zielonis, Chief of Staff
(717) 787-3280

PA Public Media to broadcast Part 2 of award-winning statewide program 

View a 30-second preview here 

PITTSTON, Pa., March 14, 2019 /PRNewswire/ — In the second program in an award-winning series, Pennsylvania’s Public Media networks will focus on children and families in “Battling Opioids: Part 2,” airing statewide at 8 p.m. on Thursday, April 11. The television program will feature a 30-minute newsmagazine of stories from across the Commonwealth followed by a panel discussion that addresses the profound impact of the ongoing crisis on children.

“This epidemic affects all generations of Pennsylvanians, from new babies to grandparents caring for grandchildren,” says Kathleen Pavelko, CEO of WITF in Harrisburg. “We want people to understand the effects, but also to know there is help for families caring for children.”

Battling Opioids is an initiative of Pennsylvania’s seven public media stations — WHYY, WITF, WLVT/PBS39, WPSU, WQED, WQLN and WVIA. The stations create and share programming, convene community conversations about the opioid crisis, and direct people to state and local resources, including the state’s website, pa.gov/opioids, and 1-800-662-HELP hotline.

Battling Opioids will host a Twitter chat with family support organizations on Thursday, March 21 at 1 p.m. ET. Follow the conversation using the hashtag #PABattlingOpioids. 

The April 11 newsmagazine will be followed by a 30-minute panel discussion featuring:

• PA State Senator Gene Yaw (R-23), Chairman of the Center for Rural Pennsylvania, which has held 14 public hearings on opioids since 2014.

• Allyson Hopkins, a medical home care coordinator for Pediatric Practices of Northeastern Pennsylvania who runs the Grand Love support group for grandparents raising grandchildren.
• Cammie Anderson, a certified prevention specialist and student assistant program trainer.

• Jayme Ferry, prevention supervisor at Crawford County Drug & Alcohol Executive Commission and coordinator for Crawford’s Overdose Prevention Coalition.

The program is hosted by Paola Giangiacomo, award-winning host of WVIA’s television series Call the Doctor. 

“The opioid epidemic calls for an unprecedented statewide response from public media,” says Tom Currá, President and CEO of WVIA Public Media northeastern Pennsylvania. “We want to complement the efforts of legislators and organizations to help families in our communities get the help they need.”

Battling Opioids has received major support from Geisinger and additional support from the Commonwealth of Pennsylvania. To learn more, visit BattlingOpioids.org and follow @BattlingOpioids on Twitter, Facebook, and YouTube.

SOURCE Pennsylvania Public Media