By Bob Strohm
bstrohm@wbcowqel.com
The sixth annual fundraising banquet for Together We Hurt, Together We Heal cast a vision of hope into the future of drug rehabilitation in Crawford County Tuesday night.
Held at the Trillium Center in Bucyrus, the evening’s guest speaker was Nicole Walmsley. During her speech of falling into the perils of addiction, and her road to sobriety, Walmsley noted that through the inmate counseling group CCA she had found that her addiction stemmed from anger, and upon release she had to help others with addiction.
“When I got out I watched my friends dying. I had seen a program called PAARI (Police Assisted Addiction Recovery Initiative) out of Massachusetts. After finding out about the program I hit 50 police departments in Ohio to talk about the program,” Walmsley said. “The program has about a 75 percent recovery rate in the 14 police departments that accepted the program.”
Shortly after Walmsley spoke to the banquet attendees, Bucyrus Police Chief Dave Koepke spoke to the crowd announcing that the Bucyrus Police Department would join the other 14 departments and participate in the PAARI program.
“The community has made a lot of progress, and they are still looking for answers, and some of the answers come from people within the community that are sharing the same passion to help people get out of addiction and into recovery and rehabilitation,” Koepke said.
“As a police department we are committed to enforcing the law and keeping drugs off the streets. At the same time we encounter people in tragic situations, and it pains us to have tragedy, death, overdoses, and we want in every way possible to work towards reducing overdoses, and definitely reducing fatalities. The program is called Police Assisted Addiction Recovery Initiative (PAARI). It started in Massachusetts over a year ago, and now hundreds of departments are partnering with people in the community to help people find rehab. That is it in a nutshell. It is all about hope. Addiction is a disease, recovery is possible, and there is hope,” Koepke continued.
Called Operation HOPE or the Heroin – Opiate Prevention Effort, The Bucyrus Police Department will vigorously target and arrest those trafficking and dealing dangerous drugs, treat those suffering for addiction with compassion, care and concern – while fairly enforcing the law, and allow people to voluntarily turn in their drugs, needles, and paraphernalia without the fear of arrest.
Dr. Stephen Novack spoke to the audience about medically assisted rehabilitation.
“When prescribing the medication, people usually ask when can I get off of these meds, and I tell them when there is no heroin in the county,” Novack said about prescribing buprenorphine to patients.
“For me, Together We Hurt, Together We Heal is more than a recovery house, it is a place of gathering, it is a place of camaraderie, it is a place to get the message out,” Novack finished.
With the opening of the Sycamore House this year, Together We Hurt, Together We Heal attained one of their main goals that the group had worked years to accomplish. However, Mary Jean Hensley was quick to point out that the fight is far from over.
“One of our goals is to fill up Sycamore House, of course. We have room for four or five young men. We want to help them get back on their feet, and become productive men in society. We are hoping to open a women’s facility in the near future,” Hensley said.
“As we have seen there is just a lot of negativity in the drug world right now, but as I said in my opening speech actually, we knew early that this problem is not going anywhere and we are not either,” Hensley added. “We are determined to keep working with addicts and families to spread awareness and education because it is needed, and because we care.”
Bucyrus Mayor Jeff Reser explained that through tragedy, Together We Hurt, Together We Heal has made a great impact on the community.
“It is an organization that we would rather not have in the community, because the reason for their existence is through tragedy, but that tragedy has drawn so many people from all different walks of life together to work on this problem,” Reser said. “The good news is is that there is good, that there is good that has come out of the evil, the tragedy that the people who have suffered to start this. They are pulling together and redoubling their efforts.
“The problem isn’t going away. I think we are making some progress, and thank goodness we have an organization like Together We Hurt Together We Heal, because the people who are involved in organizations like this do so much good,” Reser added.
Prior to closing the fundraising banquet, Crawford/Marion ADAMH Executive Director Jodi Demo-Hodgins was presented with the group’s first distinguished service award for her contributions in bringing ADAMH to Crawford County as well as her numerous efforts in helping people afflicted with addiction.
During her acceptance speech, Demo-Hodgins spoke about risk factors for addiction including family history, trauma, brain disease, and mental health. Demo-Hodgins noted that there are a million things to do, but the first important step is talking with your kids about the dangers of addiction.
“There are a million things we could do. I wish I could get everything done, but it is up to all of us,” Demo-Hodgins said. “Have a talk to your kids about the dangers as a parent.”
After Demo-Hodgins accepted her award, Pastor J.C. Church asked those in attendance to help those on the frontlines of the battle against addiction, and to donate to Together We Hurt, Together We Heal.
For more information about Together We Hurt, Together We Heal call 419-689-6427, email them at togetherwehurt_togetherweheal@yahoo.com, or visit their website at www.twhtwh.com.