The City of Elizabethton and Carter County made took a step forward in preventing drug abuse in the area Thursday morning.
East Tennessee State University announced that a $60,000 grant from the Tennessee Department of Mental Health & Substance Abuse Services will go toward assisting the relatively new Carter County Drug Prevention Coalition (CCDP).
Angela Hagaman, with the ETSU College of Public Health, has been working with the university for the past two years after working in Western Carolina with a drug prevention coalition. She has helped secure the funding for initiative put in place within Carter County.
“Coalitions convene all the stakeholders — parents, youth, schools, businesses, media, law enforcement, treatment providers and faith — to work together to establish community-wide strategies for prevention,” Hagaman said. “When I found out Carter County hasn’t had a coalition for several years, I was concerned. Carter County and East Tennessee are impacted by drug abuse and it is such a pervasive issue in the community.”
Hagaman said the coalition worked with no available funding in 2015. The CCDP worked on projects that did not require money, including engaging pharmacies to help with a safe medication storage and storage campaign and partnering with the Elizabethton Police Department to conduct a drug take-back event in Elizabethton.
Last summer, according to information provided by ETSU, the Tennessee Department of Health’s Office of Minority Health and Disparity Elimination allowed the CCDP to implement an Overdose Prevention Project that increased access to and awareness of nasal spray Naloxone, a life-saving opioid antagonist.
The one-year grant funding of $60,000 will allow the CCDP to hire a coordinator that will hit the ground running and take over the duties that members of the coalition did through volunteer hours, Hagaman said.
“We’re going to begin the process of advertising for the position shortly,” she added. “We’re hoping to have someone in place by either July or the first of August.”
The funding will also go toward assisting the current Carter County Drug Prevention and Youth Opportunity Center, located in downtown Elizabethton, which the CCDP has been using free of charge after Angie Cook donated the facility for usage.
Funding will go toward helping bolster the impact of the facility, Hagaman added, using the center as a ‘hangout’ spot for youth to enjoy time with friends and enjoy items, such as coffee.
The building will double up as spot for youth to socialize and for various educational parenting and prevention programs including classes to help combat smoking.
According to information provided by CCDP, emergency departments’ admissions for drug overdose increased 48 percent from 2002 to 2013 and that one out of seven youth in Tennessee are regularly smokers and that half have tried a cigarette.
“During recent compliance check with alcoholic retailers, nearly 50 percent were cited for providing alcohol to a minor,” Hagaman said. “Our goal is to work toward helping in this issue with children and adults and work with retailers on additional training.”
CCDP is made of 12 different organizations within Carter County will the plan of helping combat drug use and other items, Hagaman said, and Thursday’s decision will assist the work moving forward.
“This epidemic is really hurting communities,” Hagaman said. “The only way we can improve on it is to work together.”
For more information, visit the recently launched CCDP website at cartercountydrugprevention.org or call Hagaman at 423-439-7532.