HEADLINES. On the Inside

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1 October, 2015 Pasco County Alliance for Substance Abuse Prevention On the Inside Headlines Research Community Corner Spotlight ASAP Mission: To develop, motivate, and encourage strategic relationships that reduce countywide risk factors, thereby preventing and decreasing substance abuse in a comprehensive and long-term manner that primarily impacts youth in the community. Call for Stories If you have a story you d like to share in the ASAP newsletter, please make sure to send it to Monica Rousseau at MRousseau@PascoASAP.com by the 10th of the month. HEADLINES Next ASAP Meeting The next ASAP meeting will be from 10:00 AM 12:00 PM on Tuesday, September 27, 2015 at the Land O Lakes Community Center Land O Lakes Blvd. (US 41). Our guest speaker is from Poison Control. We look forward to seeing you! Prescription for Prevention Summit In honor of National Medicine Abuse Awareness Month, ASAP and BayCare Behavioral Health hosted a one-day summit at St. Leo University to educate and collectively strategize how to further reduce prescription pill and over the counter drug abuse in Pasco County. Contact Information: Contact Monica Rousseau for more information on the ASAP Coalition: 7809 Massachusetts Avenue New Port Richey, FL MRousseau@pascoasap.com ex Check us out online at Check us out on Facebook! Search Pasco County Alliance for Substance Abuse Prevention Check us out on Twitter Over 96 people registered to attend the 5 hour event. Of particular note, 5 high school students attended, as did Mary Kassabaum from Senator Wilton Simpson s Office, Summer Robertson from Congressman Bilirakis s Office, and Representative Danny Burgess. We are all excited to have such involved leadership from students, decision makers, members, and community partners. Thank you, everyone!

2 HEADLINES (CONTINUED) Discussions with Decision Makers In September ASAP and STAND members began meeting with state decision makers to raise awareness of priority drug-related concerns in Pasco County. Members intend to meet with state and local decision makers throughout the year. If you are interested in speaking on behalf of substance abuse to decision makers, please Monica Rousseau, Mykenzie Robertson, Mira Derrick, Representative Danny Burgess, Ormond Derrick, Gabby Flores, Georgia Brieck, and Andria Peek take a group picture at Representative Burgess s district office after discussing tends related to substance exposed newborns, youth marijuana use, and community disorganization. STAND students, Mykenzie Robertson and Ormond Derrick, presented at the Pasco County Legislative Delegation Public Hearing event. The students invited the legislators to help empower young people by attending the Youth Leadership Summit, tentatively scheduled in December. Photograph is courtesy of the Pasco Schools Twitter page. DEA Take Back Day! On Saturday, September 26, 2015 the Pasco Sheriff s Office and Pasco ASAP helped collect over 383 pounds of medications during the DEA Take Back events in Port Richey and Wesley Chapel. Although the amount collected is less than in previous years, Corporal Alan Wilkett states that this is likely due to more people using the permanent drop box location sites. For more information about the permanent drop box sites, please visit our website at RESEARCH According to 2014 Florida Poison Control data, Pasco County had lower total numbers called to Poison Control in comparison to many other counties in the state. However, Pasco County very high rates of calls (per 10,000). This is not shocking, since according to the latest data available to the Robert Wood Johnson Foundation, Pasco County has the highest drug poisoning mortality rate in the state at 31 per 100,000.

3 Of the 2,985 total calls made to Poison Control in Pasco County, 1,096 of them were made for children 0-5. The top call categories for all age groups included analgesics, cleaning supplies, and cosmetics, respectively. By breaking down the data even further, we see that the most calls made by concerns for analgesics were in the 0-5 age range, followed by year old group. Data was gathered from In honor of Medicine Abuse Awareness Month, we encourage all community members to share this information and to encourage others to secure their medications, cosmetics and other chemicals. COMMUNITY CORNER Premier On September 30, Premier Community Healthcare Group showcased their new Hudson location via a ribbon cutting ceremony with the West Pasco Chamber of Commerce. The site, located at the Fasano Regional Hurricane Shelter (11611 Denton Avenue, Hudson, FL 34667) is Premier s 8 th clinic in Pasco. Thank you, Premier for all of the services you provide! Pasco Sheriff s Office Events The Pasco Sheriff s Office has been busy! Three hallmark events were hosted or cohosted by the PSO in the last month, including Women s 360, the Great Escape, and National Night Out. For more pictures, please visit their Facebook page. Women s 360 is an annual event hosted by the Pasco Sheriff s Office and Lucas Magazine to raise awareness about domestic violence and provide support for victims. Dozens of vendors and hundreds of community members were present to learn about resources and hear Sheriff Chris Nocco and survivor Melissa Dohme speak on behalf of domestic violence.

4 The Great Escape is a 5k obstacle course held at the Land O Lakes Detention Center. Proceeds of the event went to Pasco Sheriff s Office Charities, which benefits many programs in the county. For more information about PSO charities, please visit National Night Out (NNO) is a national movement designed to bring community members and organizations together to support safer communities. Target and One Blood partnered with PSO to host the most successful Pasco NNO to date- with over 1,000 people in attendance. Upcoming Events! There are many wonderful upcoming events in Pasco County. Please make sure to view the comprehensive list of our members activities online at Pasco ASAP, BayCare Behavioral Health, and Digital Lightbridge have partnered with RenewPasco and the Pasco Sheriff s Office to hold a Narcotics Overdose Prevention and Education (NOPE) Candlelight Vigil to raise awareness of substance abuse. The event will be held Thursday, October 29, from 6:30pm - 8:00pm at the Verizon Center in New Port Richey. The NOPE Candlelight Vigil strives to raise awareness and open the doors to recovery by eliminating the prejudice that has followed the disease of addiction. The emcee of the event is Pasco County Clerk and Comptroller Paula O Neil (Ph.D). Guest speakers include Colonel Jeffrey Harrington, Judge Debra Roberts, Kelly Mothershead, Bobby Tierman, and Caitlyn R. For more information about the event, please Heather.O Dell@baycare.org

5 The Pasco Hernando State College's Porter Campus at Wiregrass Ranch will host Is Love Enough? Looking Beyond Love for Healthy Relationships, a domestic violence prevention symposium offered during the National Domestic Violence Awareness Month. Speakers include a survivor's story, followed by Terri O'Brien, Director of Community Education & Training, Sunrise of Pasco, Inc., Paula S. O'Neil, Ph.D. Pasco County Clerk and Comptroller, and Martin Driscoll, MA, LMHC, therapist and service director, Prevention Projects, Inc. This event is part of an ongoing Community Awareness Series. The event is free and open to students and the community. For more information, please visit or contact Sonia Thorn at SPOTLIGHT This month, we d like to recognize family court Judge Lynn Tepper, of Florida s sixth Circuit Court in Dade City. Judge Tepper recently received a BayCare Behavioral Health Leadership Award, presented by Doug Leonardo, in recognition of her leadership, dedication and unyielding commitment to the children and families of Pasco county and advocacy for those who have no voice. Judge Tepper has been a leader locally and nationally in implementing the Trauma Informed Court Model and utilizing information learned from the CDC-Kaiser Adverse Childhood Experiences (ACE) Study. The ground-breaking ACE research links childhood abuse and neglect with adult onset of chronic disease, mental illness, violence and being a victim of violence. As a result of learning this information, Judge Tepper has modified her court to be safer and less threatening to defendants with histories of childhood trauma. She also continues to advocate that the traditional approach in criminal justice continues the traumatization of children, youth and families, and has changed her lens to a solution-oriented approach. Thank you for all you do, Judge Tepper!