Surry County Schools are hoping to spark a culture change among local families to combat prescription drug abuse. This year marks the fifth year a student task force has planned and held programs shared in schools.
The task force’s efforts this year included training more than 18 middle and high school students to go into elementary schools and speak about prescription drug abuse. The group, which designates March as Prescription Drug Abuse Awareness Month, is up against grim statistics. Task force members have visited 32 kindergarten classrooms in 11 elementary schools over the past two weeks teaching how candy and medicines can look similar.
The effort is also a partnership with the Surry County Health and Nutrition Center’s Project Lazarus and local law enforcement agencies. Information was sent home in all elementary school folders which included county wide medication take-back locations and questions for parents to review with children.
Surry County ranks fourth in North Carolina for substance abuse related deaths with medication misuse ranking first among causes of accidental deaths in the state. This is the second year Pilot Mountain Middle School eighth grader Abby Key has participated. She said observing the impact of prescription drug abuse on friends and their families helped motivate her to participate in the effort.
“I love kindergarten kids and their energy and loudness,” said Key, who admitted she was surprised to learn of prescription drug abuse being a leading cause of so many deaths, particularly among children. “We had meetings and came up with our scripts and practiced presenting them. The second classes we’ve done today went better that the earlier ones. I was scared I’d say something wrong. Learning when you are young is so important.”
Key said she had originally considered being a teacher but is now looking at professions involving “very little kids or bigger kids.”
“My goal when I came on board (with Project Lazarus) was to get the news out in a multi-generational way,”said Project Lazarus Surry Coordinator Karen Eberdt. She explained the tattoos given participants and brochures will inspire parents to ask questions and begin important conversations about prescription drug abuse. She said this task has been made difficult by parents who are short on time because of work demands and unaware of the dangers.
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