Saturday, April 26, 2014, is National Drug Take-Back Day. Sites have been established for residents of Darke, Miami and Shelby counties to drop off unused, expired and potentially dangerous prescription pills. Hours for the event are 10 AM to 2 PM, although some sites may remain open extended hours if demand warrants.

The drop-off event is intended to prevent prescription drug abuse and theft by removing unwanted, unused or expired pills from homes. Prescription drug abuse, particularly involving opioid pain medications, is a growing concern locally, statewide and nationally. One way prescription drugs enter the illicit abuse trade is by theft from homes where medications are left unattended.

The service is free and anonymous.

Darke County
Family Health Center, 5735 Meeker Road, Greenville

Miami County
Miami County Sanitary Engineering Department, 2200 N. County Road 25-A, Troy

Shelby County
Shelby County Fairgrounds, Blue Building entrance, S. Highland Avenue, Sidney

In addition to the one-day event, each county has a secure prescription pill drop box. Locations are: Greenville Police Department; Shelby County Sheriff's Office; Miami County Sheriff's Office. Drugs must be in pill or powder form only; needles and liquids cannot be accepted in the drop boxes.

To find a Take-Back site in other areas, search the Drug Enforcement Agency's database of registered sites.

We're all set up and ready for the Shelby County Health and Awareness Fair Saturday April 12 in Sidney.

The Fair is 8:30 to noon at the Senior Center of Sidney-Shelby County on West Street.

Stop by and chat about Tri-County Board, Reds baseball or anything else. Pick up one of our "stress dice" squeeze toys and say Hi to our next-booth neighbor NAMI.

At its March 19, 2014, meeting, the Tri-County Board of Recovery and Mental Health Services passed a resolution to express "deep concern about the lack of consideration for local" assessment, planning, contracting, funding, monitoring and evaluating of mental health and addiction services in Darke, Miami and Shelby counties.

The resolution is in response to proposed funding shifts by the Ohio Department of Mental Health and Addiction Services prompted by Governor John Kasich's Mid-Biennium Review budget adjustments.  OMHAS has indicated it will re-allocate a significant amount of funds planned by local boards for local priorities into projects of statewide scope.

Tri-County Board Executive Director Mark McDaniel, in a letter accompanying the resolution sent to legislators representing the three counties, said, "We are alarmed at the efforts underway by OMHAS to redirect resources away from these locally driven initiatives to state priorities."

McDaniel pointed to a number of initiatives in late-stage planning or already under way that are at risk of curtailment if the OMHAS funding shifts occur. Local priorities relate to opiate programming such as detox and residential programming, Vivitrol and Narcan projects, and greater access to physicians.

According to McDaniel, local boards have learned that the redistribution would be used to purchase electronic health records software for State Hospitals; fund statewide prevention efforts above and beyond statewide efforts funded by casino revenue sharing; and use $30 million to create five regional crisis stabilization units. He said it is not clear how these projects would be funded beyond Fiscal Year 2015.

In the letter to legislators, McDaniel identified other local priorities at risk that have reduced the use of State Hospital bed days. "These local programs have reduced civil bed usage of the State Hospital by 860 bed days in FY13 and 733 bed days so far in FY14," McDaniel said. "That's over $1 million less of state hospital bed days used in the past two years by the Tri-County area."

McDaniel added: "This is an excellent example of why local behavioral health resources should be increased and supported and not reduced or reprioritized. And by the way, OMHAS gets to enjoy the significant savings as a result of our local work; we receive none of it!"

The State of Ohio operates under a two-year, or biennial, budget. Historically, the Mid-Biennium review, or MBR, has been a housekeeping measure to correct errors or make minor adjustments to the two-year budget. However, in recent years the MBR has become a significant budgeting process unto its own. In March, Gov. Kasich introduced House Bill 472, a 1600-page bill that members of the Ohio House are considering splitting into as many as 20 separate bills.

Piqua City Schools and project partners were notified of a $35,000 grant awarded April 1 by the Office of Ohio First Lady Karen W. Kasich, in partnership with the Governor’s Office of Faith-Based Initiatives and the Departments of Aging, Job and Family Services, and Mental Health and Addiction Services.

Piqua school officials and other grant partners recorded a video roundtable April 4 to discuss the program, titled "Building Resilient Youth in Piqua City Schools." The video will air on Piqua TV5 and will be available through the Piqua school website.

The grant was written by the Tri-County Board of Recovery and Mental Health Services on behalf of the school district. The school will contract with Miami County Recovery Council to provide a prevention specialist to deliver Botvin LifeSkills curriculum to all fifth and sixth grade students in the Piqua schools during the 2014-15 school year.

Also supporting the grant is the Piqua Juvenile Education Fund, and the Piqua Police Department. Piqua Police Chief Bruce Jamison is the uncompensated Executive Director of the PJEF.

Resiliency is a term used in behavioral health and prevention to describe a broad set of skills, behaviors, attitudes and information that enables individuals to make healthy choices even when faced with pressures from media, marketers, peers and others to use harmful substances such as tobacco, alcohol and illicit drugs.

"Resiliency goes beyond 'just say no' kinds of programming," said Brad Reed, the Tri-County Board's Director of Community Resource Development and lead author of the grant. "Resiliency explores why to say no, and how to say no, and how to be confident and assertive about saying no. Developing resiliency also develops positive behaviors and attitudes for social interaction. It's a skill set that can be used for a lifetime."

According to Jodi Long, the Tri-County Board's Director of Clinical Services and Evaluation, the LifeSkills program is an ideal fit. "After talking to Bruce Jamison and Kim Piper from the school district and hearing their ideas about moving toward evidence-based practice in school prevention activities, this came along at exactly the right time," she said. Long was listening to a teleconference about Governor John Kasich's "Start Talking" programs for youth drug prevention, part of which was the grant funding opportunity, when she heard Jamison's voice on the conference call asking a question. Long's follow-up call to Jamison started the conversation with the schools and the decision to pursue the grant.

Chief Jamison envisions a consistent message throughout the students' school, home and online environments. "We need something that incorporates parents - there are a lot of parents that really care and want to deliver the right message to their children and just don't know how," Jamison said during the TV taping. "We recognize there are partners in the prevention programs within the schools. Wouldn't it be cool if there was something that could go right into the curriculum... more of an integrated message that is a lot of places - in the classroom, in the home, in the media, on FaceBook, on Twitter - wherever they are getting their messages, what if we could have the same right message all those places? And all of a sudden this initiative came out of the state called "Start Talking" ... and it was everything that we've been working towards, including a funding mechanism."

Long said that from her meeting with the PJEF, they had all the pieces to "begin putting together what was Bruce's dream - to implement evidence-based practice prevention services in place of D.A.R.E." Long explained that "evidence-based practices" are programs that are supported by research to have proven outcomes, "that they change the choices our youth make around drugs, alcohol, violence and other social issues."

Superintendent Hanes explained that the "D.A.R.E. program was a phenomenal program that was serving students well, but as we continue to move, things change. What [Chief Jamison and I] talked about was how to transition a program. What excites me ... is that this does provide a mechanism for us to be able to shift gears for better meeting the needs of students today. We were working from a curriculum for D.A.R.E. that was quite old, and it was time to revamp and revitalize."

The eight Botvin LifeSkills modules in the middle school curriculum will be embedded into the Piqua schools "Specials" rotation. Kim Piper explained that the Specials are subjects such as Physical Education, Art, Music, "so this will be added into that rotation." She added that school officials "are excited about the parent component and the teacher component." Part of the grant-funded activities is to train teachers and counselors in the LifeSkills curriculum.

Jamison said the grant-funded program "lays some groundwork - to me it's just the basis for a community-wide approach." Jamison said, "We have a bunch of drug abuse in Piqua. It's one of our biggest problems. It's not something we can arrest our way out of. It's probably not even something we can treat ourselves out of. What if we could do some social norming that made the whole community look at some of these issues differently?"

Jamison added that "this lays the groundwork to begin bringing in some faith-based initiatives, to expand to other grade levels, and we could look at any neat ideas anybody might have." He emphasized that a systematic approach is needed so that different groups aren't duplicating efforts.

Hanes said the $35,000 grant provides a "catalyst for all of us to start working together. We've been strong partners with the Police Department. We're looking forward to bringing the Tri-County Board into working more with us and becoming even more of a partner in offering good programming for our students. That's what this is all about."

April is National Child Abuse Prevention Month. Take a stand against child abuse by wearing blue on April 9. A child's pinwheel toy has become the national symbol of child abuse prevention.

Miami County Children Services receives more than 1600 reports of suspected child abuse and neglect each year.

On April 9, 2014, Miami County Children Services asks that you participate in an awareness campaign by wearing blue. Take a picture of yourself, your group or your co-workers wearing blue on April 9. Send the photo to Amy Waters and they will posted on the Miami County Children Services website.