In the wake of student overdose, Brandywine Heights held a panel discussion to address a community drug issue.
In response to a recent student overdose and drug-related student arrests, the Brandywine Heights School District held an educational panel discussion on June 9 at 6:30 p.m. in the Brandywine Heights Middle School auditorium, inviting parents, students and concerned community members to come learn how be part of the solution.
“Tonight is really a reaction to what happened in our schools a couple weeks ago,” said Superintendent Andrew Potteiger. “There are a lot of concerns that came from that. This is a school issue, but it’s also a community issue.”
Superintendent Potteiger addressed the recent overdose a student, which occurred on May 12 when 18-year-old student Julia Koch sold heroin to another student, who then passed out in a classroom and was transported to Lehigh Valley Hospital for treatment.
Although the student is recovering, this near-fatal incident, coupled with charges made against another student on May 14 for drug possession, has created concern and frustration about the growing issue with heroin in the community.
Those concerns were addressed at Tuesday’s panel discussion and were met with valuable advice from the panel members.
Presentations by ProfessionalsThe evening began with short presentations by three panel members.
Jessica Kase, a Student Assistance Program (SAP) Coordinator with the Caron Foundation, spoke to the community about how to begin the process of helping someone whom you know or suspect has a drug problem.
“The most important thing is don’t stick your head in the sand,” said Kase. “Talk about it. When we have our kids that are doing really good, we share all of the good stories, but when your kid is struggling, and they’re not so great, we tend not to share those stories. Then we get isolated. You’re afraid, and you’re alone.”
Kase urged parents and community members to keep talking about what is going on and utilize the resources they have been given, including SAP and the area’s surrounding treatment and assistance facilities, such as the Caron Foundation and TASC.
“If you have a loved one that you are concerned about, reach out to other people,” said Kase. “There are so many resources to do that. Don’t be ashamed about it. Let’s look at what we can do to tackle it, and let’s get help for them.”
Following Kase, Detective Cpl. Pasquale Leporace of the Berks County District Attorney’s office spoke about the Good Samaritan Law and the enforcement process revolving around drug-related offenses in the county.
Det. Leporace shared a startling statistic that on the law enforcement end, 80 percent of drug users are believed to use with others. However, according to first responders’ statistics, 80 percent of the time, overdosed individuals are found alone.
“Something doesn’t match up there,” said Det. Leporace. “That’s why we have the Good Samaritan Act.”
The law, which was signed last year, was created to protect both the overdosed individual and the people present with the individual.
In order to be protected by the law, an individual who is present with an overdose victim must call 9-1-1 or seek treatment, stay with the victim and provide a true identity.
“If all that criteria is met, they could have 100 pounds of heroin in their pockets, we couldn’t do anything about it,” said Det. Leporace.
Det. Leporace also shared the importance of first responders being trained to administer the drug Narcan, or Naloxone, which brings victims back from opiate overdoses.
Tyler Bard, Chief of Topton Community Ambulance Service, shared more about Narcan and the signs of overdose.
“A few weeks ago, when everything was going on, we put out a big Facebook blast about things to recognize with an overdose,” said Bard.
According to Bard, the signs of overdose include shallow breathing, or breathing that sounds like snoring, unconsciousness, blue lips and gray skin color.
Bard also said that the best way to tell if someone is high on heroin or painkillers is if his or her pupils are pinpoint, almost impossible to see.
The Panel DiscussionAfter the presentations, Matt Null of the Council on Chemical Abuse (COCA), Reverend Jeremiah Sassaman and Tamra McGee of Pyramid joined the others for the panel discussion, led by Potteiger. The conversation allowed for questions from both the Superintendent and the audience.
Many community members and parents expressed frustration about the recent events in the school, and others were confused about the lack of support from the community between last year’s initial event and now.
Last year, nearly 500 people packed the school to become a part of the team to combat this issue. Now, the Brandywine Community Task Force is down to 15 to 20 regular attendees, according to Kerry Meitzler, a task force member.
“The community task force is trying to be proactive,” said Meitzler. “We just need more help. It’s on Facebook. It’s on the website. Bring friends and come on out.”
One community member, in response, questioned what the task force is actually doing to help.
“I respect your commitment and thank you for it,” he said. “My question is what actions are coming out of it though? A pamphlet and a banner and a concert, that’s great, but with what purpose?”
Superintendent Potteiger intervened, listing the multiple forums and events that the district and task force have put together within the past year.
“It’s not about the task force,” he said. “It’s about the kids. It’s about the community. I’m going to continue fighting for this because that’s what it’s about. It’s about what we can do as a community that six, eight, ten people on a monthly basis meeting are trying to string together and keep going.”
Rev. Sassaman also chimed in. “Things are happening,” said Rev. Sassaman. “Unfortunately, there is a challenge of coordinating things. As the problem seemed to go away, things got quieter. Sometimes if we do not get and remain angry, we don’t maintain that edge. Somewhere between anger and completely giving up and ignoring it, there’s a middle ground that we’ve got to discover for ourselves.”
Despite growing frustrations, the panel members remained hopeful and reminded the community to do the same.
“Remember this and take it with you,” said McGee. “Recovery is possible. Recovery for your community, recovery for your individuals who are struggling with addiction, recovery overall for anybody.”
Null urged the community to let go of the stigma surrounding addiction and keep educating themselves.
“Addiction is a huge, complex monster that has a lot of science behind it,” he said. “We need to tackle why kids are doing it in the first place and focus on the first half of the problem.”
The Brandywine Heights Community Task Force plans to continue battling the issue in the community and asks for support.
“I think a lot of the community thinks a lot of the problems have been solved, and they’re just not,” said Meitzler. “We need all these people back on the task force, so we can solve these problems.”
The task force will be holding a free Battle of the Bands event for students and the community on Aug. 19. More information about the event, and about other upcoming meetings and activities, is available on their Facebook page and www.bhctaskforce.org.