Captain Todd Shear
• A 15 year-old-boy with torn ligaments due to a soccer injury
was given a 14-day supply of Lortab, a powerful pain-reliever.
This started his addiction to pain medication. The boy nearly
died, but was luckily saved by his father’s quick thinking and
the EMT’s antidote, Narcam. This boy is not the typical picture
of a drug addict, and we are seeing more and more like him.
• ��0�� of the opioid addictions start with a valid doctor’s
prescription.
• There were 25 pill mills in our area. A pill mill is a place
where doctors (or people posing as doctors) write illegal
prescriptions for or sell pain medication.
• Addicts to these medications were forced onto the streets
in 2012 when these places were shut down. Without these
prescriptions, the addicts turned to heroin, fentanyl, or
carfentanil which is 10,000 times more powerful than Morphine.
• First Responders are getting sick just from TOUCHIN��
these substances.
• Half the room or more, at every speaking engagement,
raises their hands when asked if they know someone who
has overdosed on these drugs.
• We don’t know why, but Manatee County has been ranked
#1 nationally for opioid deaths, but it is deaths per capita,
not the most deaths overall.
• There was a bust in Manatee County where $1.5 million
worth of these drugs were con��scated.
TOP TWO BARRIERS to Eliminate the Opioid Crisis:
1. The most critical is EDUCATION; we must educate the public.
Our schools focus on testing, instead of life and social skills.
2. FUNDIN��! Each time there is an opioid overdose, the
following responders are called: EMT, Homicide, Crime
Scene Specialist, Fire, and Child Protective Services.
This adds up fast. Plus, funding is drying up for DrugFree
Manatee, a program that works.
TAKE AWAY
• Please, please, please, if you notice anything suspicious,
please call. We would much rather you call us about
something that turns out
to be nothing, than to miss
the opportunity to help.
• The public needs to
know they can NOT be
arrested for possession
of drugs if they over-dose.
• Code ��93.21 The
��ood Samaritan Act also
protects the person calling
911 in the situation where
someone is dying and the
person calling is also using
drugs.
Kristie Skoglund
• The Florida Center for Early Childhood helps children
exposed to trauma.
• The center works with both biological families, adoptive
families, and foster families.
• Focus is on the mother/child dynamic because within
the second half of the child’s ��rst year, there is a mental
connection (psychological attachment) made with the child’s
IT person, which is typically the mother. Therefore, the goal
in traumatic situations is to reunite the child with their IT
person as swiftly and safely as possible.
• Early Childhood Court is ��nally active in Circuit 12, and
follows the proven zero-to-three national model. This is a
less formal sort of court, where the judge may sit at the table
with the family instead of behind a dais.
TOP TWO BARRIERS to Eliminate the Opioid Crisis:
1. Education, especially on the importance of the ��rst 1,000
days of life, is crucial!
2. Funding, who pays for the services?
TAKE AWAY
• We need to WONDER more to understand why these families
are in this situation.
• The mother’s relationship has a direct link to the child’s social
and behavioral well-being.
• Caregivers should never underestimate their role in the life
of a child. As a constant in these children’s lives, caregivers
should strive to just be present and emotionally available.
After hearing each panelist speak, it was clear that education,
funding, and collaboration, are the common denominators. We
just need more conversations to ��nd the solutions.
Special thanks to the event’s coordinator, Pam Parmenter, Director
of Early Learning at Manatee County Early Learning Coalition, for
her willingness and ability to gather the remarkable panelists and
start this much-needed conversation. Her closing remark was
most poignant. She said: “Let’s keep the conversations going.
The next bright idea could come from ANYWHERE!”
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