What the Health Just Happened?
TJ Ward, MS, North Florida Director of Advocacy | Project Opioid at JAX Chamber
All right, ladies and gentlemen welcome to what the helps just happen when we talk about all things health care the good the bad The ups the downs of lefts the right and everything in between Topics of discussion Little bit of health care little bit community little bit business little bit life today's guest is Not my first but you are my first in this studio We just said that TJ Ward with project opioid. This is your third time, right? Yeah We're doing a hat trick here the third the hat and I the first third You're the second third Kate saw I'll shout out to Katie Howard She was she was sure said 3p because I was the first you were the first two-time in person Yeah, second three-time person but first time in here. We're not the radio studio We're gonna kind of pilot this out Abby's over there. She's not on camera. Can you say hi Abby? Just say okay Project opioid very heavy topic Ups and downs lefts and rights Good stuff and bad. I think today. We have some good news. I love But we're gonna laugh too cuz I want to talk about being a dad Being 50. I'm not there yet, but can you believe this guy's 50? Abby said don't bring that hold on to your parents. Do they look young as well? No, actually my parents were almost 40 when I was born so But look to young for their age, so there we go genetic guess I guess genetics definitely plays a part TJ Ward welcome I'm excited Where do you want to start serious or not serious you tell me let's start not as serious and then Okay, so if you want serious, which we'll get to we have two previous episodes. I'll share those in the notes First time first episode kind of first time hanging out talking heavy second time still heavy But like are we friends yet? I'd say we're friends say we're boys So I got it. Yeah, we all boy. We need to hang out. I mean your schedule is kind of crazy Yours is to your kids are in that I got a little lies. I got a little ones minor groan. Let's start there Yeah, good dad, right. We love celebrating good dad. So it's just Father's Day Who claps it? Well, well cowbell here. That's loud. We're not doing that. I was sorry. I'm sorry Trey Adult kits. Yeah, you have adult kids. I have young kids You have a good relationship with your daughters. I would say so they still want to hang out with me and they're 25 and 22 now So I I think that's a good thing that's a win if my kids want to hang out with me is when they're adults like that's a win Yeah What do you enjoy doing with your daughters? So we're getting ready to go to the beach next week So I'm pumped about that being able to just hang out with them You know at the pool or walk down the beach and have some like Jack's Beach or where no a little further south I don't want to give away the location back on top secret. Yeah. Yeah, hide that good spot though But just hanging out with them working out with them just talking life. Are they workout junkies? Oh, yeah, both of them are really into going to the gym and trying to be fit just like most all of us, right? Trying to most he's a little healthier. I didn't war more of us need that Did you like to you teach them that were you working out in front of them? How did that happen? Yeah, I think they would probably say that was definitely an an part of the influence they've been athletes since they were little played sports and Obviously, you know when you get older and you're trying to compete at a higher level That's one of the requirements is getting in the gym and trying to get stronger faster all of that But they just fell in love with I think The growth you can experience, you know when you push yourself to be disciplined It probably saw some of that in me. I hope But they definitely have that you know hope that work ethic you got two adult daughters that work out, right? Right exercise with you and want to hang out with you That's a win. That's a win. That's how I hear you. That's how we're out. So I got So nine eight and six try out of yours. I was forget three and two Working out in front of the kids to me then they're like I want to work out with you I'll walk out there. My son's doing push-ups at nine. That's cool. This form's terrible. Wow. Hey, that's okay He's got time. I'm kidding. I love you ever So beach next week. Yeah, springbrook. That's spring bring that summer. That's how delusional. I am And lost what day what year etc, right? So growing up as a dad young kids you lose track of time You know, it's so cliche, but it does it flies by And especially when they get to that place where they are doing those extra curriculars and that Kind of determines what your schedule becomes and then you know It's work during the week and then travel on the weekends to watch them play ball or an after an hour practice all that stuff But I wouldn't have it any other way. Yeah, it is awesome But it flies by you're gonna yeah, you'll look back on it and think what happened already, man Already it's fly by but I think I told you this offline. I think you do a great job of Maximizing opportunities with your kids. I don't want this to be like the mutual admiration society for dads But I mean we we got to boost each other. I love that talk you do a great job of really being present Well, thank you. Thank you. I love that you film a lot of that You put you know, the selfie videos and put it on I Do I do I do? I don't know if the kid I don't want to teach my kids that though. That's weird I want to talk about social media actually, okay? It's then we'll talk about obviously fennel overdose. Yeah, really depressing stuff, but good numbers So the selfie stuff my kids love it they laugh, but I don't want to create that monster of like I want selfies I want videos, but I think it's like the stuff I put out is for lessons for other dads. Sure kind of comical Where'd your daughter's go to college? So my youngest went to Private University called Point University, okay, and she played volleyball on a scholarship So that that was cool. I'd ring that Bell, but it was way too loud. Yeah, she's at the University of Georgia doing her her master's degree Just finished her first year of graduate school 4.0 Dang. Yeah, so that's correct. We can clap when you need that no more towel bells the cowbells put away But she's a bulldog and I guess when I go to Athens. I'm kind of do you wear Georgia stuff? I have one Georgia golf polo that I put on when I'm in Athens and then other than that I don't know what yeah my Florida Gator other than that so and my oldest went to UNC Pimbroke for her Undergraduate and she's doing some graduate work at the University of Montana on Line obviously she lives near Jacksonville. I'm like what is she in Montana, okay? So - that's a good dad. Yeah, man. I'm impressed. I'm impressed. They're good kids Yeah, so I'm trying to to do a little Sidework and save up the sage waddies. Yeah Those weddings are coming before So two things know it one is that's all I think about my daughter six. I'm like I got to start saving money now Yeah, dear Lord It does she it like if she have Boyfriends that's it no no she better not they're dead if they are dating us So I have one that is very kind of Bougie it's for fancy. Oh loves the finer things in life I have one that's a little more practical when it comes to spending money. I won't say witches witch. I like this But they're each a little different so I wondered is is your can you tell yet does she like the finer things? She has two older brothers and a dad that's rough around the edges I'd like my wife likes Some nice stuff. Why don't you like nice stuff, too? I see what you're wearing Oh, dude. This is a company spot by the way 212 benefits. Thank you for the cup and the stuff Yeah, I'm like yeah shout out to our channel. That's right ghost energy dinner to top on that Now this is we're not sponsored. Yeah, not we would love to be I Don't like Bougie stuff, man, and it's hard to tell she's young and she has big bros So she's like tough and and dude. What about the golden goat stuff? What what shorts are you at? I'm wearing fancy shorts. I'm wearing blue lemon goat shorts from yeah Oh, man, y'all call me out pretty bad on that not only not healthy so one daughter fancy one not as fancy both beautiful Beautiful girls inside now, but one one definitely had some how I got a silver spoon and the other one is like okay we can We can make do with some you know some normal stuff the other one likes The nice stuff so the wedding - it's like are in either serious relationships a wedding coming out You don't have to she'd be like I don't want to talk about this you can be like we're changing topics But I'm like I'm interested as he was talking about it. Yeah, so my youngest does not have a serious boyfriend She's really her schedule is crazy with grads. Oh, and then she also works She's a graduate assistant for the program that she's take so she's working pretty much full-time and then in school full-time My oldest does have a boyfriend that's on the serious side, but I like them. She was my next question Yeah, I think I told you we we hung out. Yeah A couple Friday night to go we got invited to my girlfriend and I got invited to dinner with her and her boyfriend So it was like an honor. Yeah, but you also had fun. Yeah, I like get on. He's a good. He's a good guy Cuz you and I could take them. I promise you we could take some pray. Yeah But if you want to help if you buy one thing we would ever need that for him. He's a good good guy, so That I could see a wedding and they're not too distant future for them. Okay Just like I just like that. I got it. It goes revised. So that's all I think about now Though do you know your wedding song for each daughter? I already have like I told my daughter She's six. I played every single night before bedtime. What's a revolution song? Which one I can't sing it when all of this is said and done You will be low. This is the first time I sang on this show It's a great song. I'll send it to you I already know my daughters and I's wedding dance song, but it's not my choice. I could see you being one of those Y'all come up with a routine a hundred percent and you just bust out and do like all of it. Yeah, all of it Yeah, crazy dance man. I'm like crazy dance. Yeah What else personal stuff you want to share anything before we go into the heavy stuff? I mean we other than hanging out with them and trying to stay in shape myself We've been pretty hard at it with project to be with stuff over the last Six months, especially the last three. I would say it's starting to to be a lull just because summertime is what it is But we'll ramp we'll ramp back up in August, but we've got some Stuff that we're planning for and some things that that we've been excited about so what's busy? Is it meeting? cities Counties companies like what what's bit what's a good busy week versus a like hey, we wasted so much time doing X Yeah, so we work in ten different counties or we did last year. I think that expands a little bit this year we actually Got an opportunity to head down toward the panhandle and it kind of spread out a little bit further than we had Anticipate it, but surprise shout out to Florida Bloom there their wild counties And we're headed that way to really do some presentations and their centers out in Tallahassee in Pensacola So we're excited about that. That's coming up in July. We've done a couple of those here in town at the town center and then out at the river city marketplace and those went really well I'm spending a lot of time with the senior adult population educating them on the dangers of of opioid misuse and and Preparing them with the arcane training and helping them with the safe disposal of prescription meds expired or too much of one script Like what when do you when do you say dispose of this medication? Yeah, so if it could be a number of different things So for instance when I had my wisdom teeth taken out they prescribed me this was years ago They prescribed me, you know number of oxycodone. I took one it made me sick so I didn't Take any of the rest of them and they just sat in my house for a long time This is before I was doing the work that I'm doing so I didn't know any better and I think I just threw it away So a scenario like that we would give them, you know a pouch that they could take home and dispose of that prescription med or even over the counter meds that have expired that they're not using So rather than letting that stuff sit around, you know, we we think people should Dispose of it responsibly because what we do know is a lot of especially young people get started down that road of of misuse um Because they're they're taking prescription meds from their grandparents or from their parents You know that are just sitting around in the medicine cabinet or under a sink somewhere and If they're not using it, they need to get rid of it. You're about to say something Yeah, so you mentioned like um working with, you know, the older population Maybe it's naive of me, but there is a a case where a lot of elders are overdosing on these opioids Yeah, so when it comes to them Um, they may take their prescription Med and then they forget that they've taken it so they take it again I can push them into an overdose um and then or They run out of their prescription med for some reason they're having a problem getting it covered by insurance Oh, they turn to the street where it's cheaper Insurance and then that is you know laced with thumbnails that can cause or into unintentional poisonings We you know, there's we say overdose because it all gets lumped in but some of the tax and dental poisoning so there's there's two I guess two part question here. I look at um Buckets of age groups. What's the generation? Is it 10 years 15 years 20 years? But to me We're at 65 and older is one 85 and older is one We'll say we're 10 years How many older adults? I don't want to say 15 older because I'm almost there That's me. We just recognize you as 15. I'd say again 65 and older that's Medicare population How many of them do you think are misusing medications intentionally? I think that would be a smaller percentage Um, but you you never know. I mean the mental health crisis impacts everyone So, you know somebody that knows what an ana depressing can do for them You know may overuse it if they're feeling two feels better than more. Yeah, they're depressed or struggling with Anxiety or trying to deal with some kind of trauma they experience so but I think it's a smaller percentage that are intentionally misusing Yeah, I'm guilty because like I love specific numbers statistics We'll talk about the CDC or in a second what came out, which is awesome But the majority of people that are overdoses versus misuse. What was the term you used? Uh accidental accidental. Yeah That's probably the younger population. Is that fair to to say? Well, so you have both with the younger population you have some that are experimenting Um, you have some that are intentionally seeking You know a drug like fennel and then you have some that are again trying to cope with Um some anxiety or depression and they don't they're not trying to get high They're just trying to cope with that escape a little bit Yep And so they take what they think is a Xanax and They overdose it's a poisoning or you've got college age kids that are trying to add a raw Xanax Azanese. Yeah, so they're trying to study for finals and and finish their term papers and they're feeling overwhelmed So they need what they think is a booster leg up. They get an Adderall in a place with fennel. We've we've sat with Several parents. Hey, I lost guilty. Yeah, I'll tell you right now. Yeah, this is this is 20 plus years ago. Yeah Um, I had an Adderall script. I don't think we've talked about that. I had an Adderall prescription for years It had like problems with it. I'd overtake some days undertakes some days But I had a script for it. It wasn't buying off the art market, but in college like I don't mind sharing Things that I've done that were stupid I did it. Gosh we're finals. We ends or who has the correct who has Adderall E. Spurs Yeah, well and the problem becomes If you're overusing then you run out and you don't have enough until the next month So you turn to somebody on canvas that you can buy it from and they will you that come from? Yeah, it's late. Is that Adderall? It's happened over and over and over again That's like I have a love-hate relationship with you coming on because I like it. This is a serious topic that I yeah I love talking about this important, but I also hate it because it's It's tough man. I think about my kids. I think about the dumb the dumb things that I did from 16 to 22, but we were when we were doing it, which would be what 2003 to 2010ish 2001 to 2006 What what changed since that's a great question because when did that it doesn't even have thought in our our minds when we were doing it So what changed was drug dealers realized that they could create these pills for way cheaper than what they were You know purchasing heroin for and trying to distribute so it's it's strictly an economic thing You've got you know people that are creating these synthetic opioids instead of having to To purchase heroin that has to be in a specific climate has to be grown It you know it has to be harvested and then you know, it's it's so much easier and You know if you have the precursors all the the materials you can make some of these pills at home You've got people that are buying pill presses as well as the materials to make fade pills And they can do that in their own home and their basement or you know wherever Alright, would you be do you think there is a percentage of these guys that actually are making product that doesn't hurt people? It's just the 10% of the weasels that are you know getting it out there into the population or I think Everybody that's trying to make money is utilizing fentanyl They're not trying to intentionally kill people Because and then we get this question all the time. Why would they put it? You lose a client. You're going to lose the client. Oh The answer to that is they aren't necessarily trying to kill people on there may be some that are you know But but buying large they're just trying to get those clients to come back to them. So if they have the best stuff You know, I don't know if you remember that movie with Denzel Washington in a memorable gangster Yes, so you're kidding me. It was a blue magic or something. That's like my go-to time I love that movie. You're watching Breaking Bad by the way. I haven't dude So my oldest daughter just said we're in the last season. You don't need to have topic Yeah, because we're gonna go on to that show this you talk about economics of yeah I want to drugs. I just say it. I need to check it out. The the fennel thing RP again, I don't know my again for now, but I I try to stay Aware of what's happening. Like are can you buy just straight fentanyl on the market here? Like do our drug users going out? Like I just want fentanyl or is it is it just primarily mixed into other drugs? There are people that are fentanyl seeking and that will just consume straight fennel because they have a tolerance They've built up a tolerance to everything else So and you can buy you can get fentanyl through the mail a lot of times, you know the way they gets from other countries into the United States is through the mail so People are so someone kid. This is so bad because the less postal service they just yeah Well, you you got to think about The amount of packages that go through the u.s postal service and the the amount of inspectors abi. What is it? Again, so yeah, so for however many millions of pounds of mail that come into the United States a day. Yeah, uh, there's like 1200 agents nationwide Inspecting that's the postal service. What about FedEx? Yeah, um, there's just been packages. I don't yes I don't know that I could be wrong, but I don't know that private packaging They're just probably trying to move product and get paid gotta be law. I feel bad normally like I'll read like I didn't know this would come up either, but like research how many inspectors are there for FedEx and UPS I don't know. Yeah, it's probably it's got to be comparable numbers of the postal service, but so millions of pounds of of mail set per day 1200 inspectors that we just said Divide by 50 states like that's yeah, not enough This and you know, you got to think about so we partner heavily with law enforcement We feel feel like they are a key factor and you know, obviously stopping this and and helping to reduce overdose deaths and they do a phenomenal job, but There's just not enough law enforcement agencies or officers to stop completely stop The flow of it into the country and sometimes we get that question as well People say why don't they just do a better job of keeping it from coming in The answer to that is it takes two milligrams of fentanyl To make a huge impact when you think about that. That's a really small amount So it becomes easier to smuggle and you know, the DEA and some of our other Partner agencies are doing a tremendous job each year. They they seize more and more of these You know drug shipments, but they can only do so much It's this is a very difficult question asked like if you if one if you could do one thing right now To make an impact. What would it be? Not you like per se, like the United States could do this right now and this would make the biggest impact And that's that's that's tough. We talk about three things right increased awareness Increased distribution in our cans a big deal increased peer support specialists. That's to decrease overdoses, but to like cut back on the problem I mean you would and We don't want to get too far in a politics but you would have to steal it. You would have to secure the borders I was gonna more strongly um and again even that that even if you had an increased presence you would still Have people bringing stuff across. It's just impossible to completely shut down mathematically We could stand to secure the borders a little more I don't mind talking about that. We only got two minutes of the commercial break, but like I know Trey chump out of the bit I I think everything should be on the table to talk about sure If there's one thing I'm not I'm not a border patrol agent. I don't I don't understand enough, but If it's free rain to go here and there and whenever you want whenever you please Jugs are a lot easier to get in. Yeah, we know a large amount of Fennel comes to us from you know over in mexico You've got couple cartels that are really responsible for the overwhelming majority of it and that's how it's getting through I thought you wanted to chime in there Wait till the second half yep, okay We had about a minute left here to the first commercial break unless you're on the podcast or in commercials That was heavy. Let's go back to layhearted any shout outs before the commercial break. Yeah, I wrote down a few of those Yeah, yeah So want to shout out florida blue because they fund our initiative. Okay Townout foundation and jacks chamber Just a tooth of it and you you know as a jacks chamber. What are you small business when you're at the year? I am no one. I am irrelevant. Come on man. SBLI for the jacks chamber health council It's yeah on but and I would like to shout out my colleague abby. She's behind the scene abby We don't have camera. She does and we've a lot of of our work and especially when it comes to scheduling and detail stuff Um, so she's a huge part of what we're doing. She does this stuff that you don't want to do or she's a yeah Yeah, I'm not smart enough to do. I'll shout out to abby's been good people And then my daughters. So my oldest is dacey dac why? Dacey without okay a lot of times people call her daisy or What's her boyfriend's name by the way jerema jerema you get a shout out to jerema is a stud He's a good guy and then whitney's my youngest. Okay, daisy and whitney. Yeah Last question. Who's the fancy one? You don't my oldest. She knows. She's daisy's fancy pants. She's but they're both amazing Elms. I thought that was silent tj ward project opioid. That's what the health just happened All right. Welcome back to the second half of what the health just happened If you miss the first half here on the radio show good news is you can find it on your favorite podcast platform under what the health just happened if you're on the podcast Welcome back to no commercial break because we don't have sponsors yet, but we're gonna see keep pushing for sponsorships including Uh energy drinks here. We're just gonna keep plugging companies. I'm kidding tj ward three-time guest First time in this office studio. Welcome back. The previous episodes catch him. We can put those in the show notes I probably won't I don't do that stuff really sounds good to say it though. Well, look at the show Not kidding though. The first time we hung out on the show episode one pretty heavy had a good time second time heavy had a good time This episode first half was good one time. Yeah, which I want to keep doing but we got it a little bit of heavy stuff here Health they're not healthy Okay, you know the gang let's do it healthy or not healthy energy drinks So I think I there's a there's an argument for both sides Uh, I think healthy from the mental health standpoint because I love them. So they bring me joy That's that's that's healthy. That's all our arguments roll with it. Hey, if it makes you happy. It's got to be healthy, right? That's heavy. I know yeah By the way, the most healthy energy drink Go with dinner Brought to get that's your jam right there. I'm told if you look at tiktok, they're not healthy I mean unless it's the sponsor that's doing the every video has something that Helps them out. Yeah, which is tough because we're talking about fennel overdose and opioid crisis Which that's like well, that's hold on. That's the same thing. I mean caffeine's a drug too, right? That's your go-to one now. Yeah I ghost celsius like celsius c4 I'll drink c4. I'm a connoisseur He's also jack. I like a lani new are you familiar? That's a l a n i a l i in you We can't spell. We're cate a l a n k Alana in you I know they're you are right. Yes, I agree. All right. Healthier or not healthy being bougie If you've got the money Why not, you know, okay if you can afford the lifestyle if you worked hard and and you've I and I really can't but I wish I good training being bougie healthier not healthy I'm just really bougie. It's it has as good and bad It's fun to be with the bougie person and go travel and do this because they want to do fun shit And they got no problem with spending money So yeah, I guess how you define bougie. Just liking the finer things in life. That's good What's bougie? What's not? Yeah, also when did bougie become a term? Bad moochie years ago. I like 12 10 decade ago abby do the young people still use bougie Well, I'm not that young about to be 30 About to be but I still say it but I also get crap all the time that I um What's the term for bougie now? She says the bomb and I'm like people can say the bomb anymore Just like when you said I like that when you by the way your merch is is I like oh, yeah You know they would like we like yeah, I like popping them up. I like dumb stuff though But like you put on their New swag yep, and I messaged you and oh you can't say swag anymore. Yeah kids are saying merch or drip So merch and drip Too so far. Yeah, you know bougie comes from bougie was a that's the term it comes from It was a form of like people being elite back in the day So they just that's good to know I just learned it's a mentality more than it is uh What's that really on about riz riz is another one. Yeah That's sort of her charisma. Yeah Ah, it's cutting words short. I'm so embarrassed. I'm like, I don't riz is one. I'm like, I don't like that word If you need to know these things go to urban dictionary Dog me, yeah, but I find weird stuff on urban dictionary when I when I say Oh god, that's bad You want to know about these things go to tiktok and type in the in the phrase and you'll get all the information you need Okay, that's good. That's good. Any health or not healthies Because I got one before going into i'm serious stuff. Oh healthy or not healthy dad's during summer time Oh About unhealthy. No that just gets kind of like well a dad bods We're doing all right. Yeah, right now. We're good. This this is a solid crew of dad bods I think you talking about parenting with young kids. Yes when it's summertime. Oh, I'm not this earlier. Yeah, little kids are at home It's such a different dynamic healthy or not healthy. I'm going to it's been a not how some time not healthy You can't relate to that. Here's one healthy spin through it was healthy or not healthy for you Uh summertime kids out of school young. What do you do challenging? So you just again it depends on if you have some resources you can put them in camps where they can learn some things and be productive but um You know, there's a lot of down time. I think health. They're not healthy hanging out with your adult kids. So a healthy Man time of your life. I think the greatest thing ever. I think that's so cool. You're having them. I love it Yeah, okay health. They're not healthy. We'll go serious unless you have any health. They're not healthy. No man You got any the zabby come on coming out there. She's over there health. They're not healthy ginger ale healthy Healthy reasons I was over here just giving tj crap about the whole mental health thing But the energy drinks but it's technically not healthy, but it's a nice afternoon tree. We all did the best we can Okay, healthy or not healthy Progress in the state of florida For overdoses healthy heading heading in the right direction. Let's put it that way It's definitely not over And so I know we're going to talk about this report the the cdc put out and it's a reason To celebrate. I don't know if you do the thing now the cowbellers. That's too loud. It's loud. You should That's better. That's really well, bro. It is loud, but that's good. Hey, yeah So we're cautiously optimistic that it'll continue the challenge is There's so many different Variants of you know drugs that are coming into the scene. That's like when you feel like you Figured it out and you're playing catch up again So happy for the progress that's been made You know and in the state of florida in dovall county and surrounding counties nationwide really But I don't think we like we said this other day on on the news We can't take our foot off the gas. We've got to keep pushing forward keep pouring resources into the things that are working and then also i'm a big Proponent of taking a portion of resources and trying things we've never done before being innovative Because if you think about it You know people are always talking about evidence-based You know therapies or treatments or breeze, you know programming and that's great You got to do that, but before it was evidence-based it wasn't Right and so there was a time where all of that stuff was an innovative idea or a thought What do you believe it wasn't even a thought? Yeah, and then something happens then it was a thought so let's do the things that are working But let's also try to figure out some things we haven't done and and just put some money towards what if you know Could this could this work? And we'll see just like the things we're talking about before we got on on camera Or started recording the things that we have seen And the counties that we work in that have made the difference You know some of that stuff was innovative And and its workings helping to reduce overdose deaths. I just thought of it literally as just saying that it's uh It's like an unwinnable fight But why would we stop fighting? Yeah, we do tell about a starfish thing. I was gonna say can you share that? I we did this this second episode. I think the starfish story. I love this I think it's applicable to so many things but especially this world, right? So a granddad takes his granddaughter out to the beach and there are thousands of starfish on the beach thousands You walk out there. They're just everywhere And the granddaughter grabs one throws in the ocean grabs one throws in the ocean grabs one throws in the ocean grabs one throws in the ocean Granddad's kind of watching her just you know, I love you granddaughter And after 50 60 starfish, she's like, what do you do it? Like there's so many of these you're never going to make a difference And the granddaughter looks at his granddad and says, you know, what to that one starfish it made a difference So and that that that's the approach that I've really tried to take in life for everything health care not business Like one person in your world If you say if one person hears this episode or the past episodes and it even nudges them in the right direction That's a win. Yeah, that's a starfish and that's how we have to look at it I mean, I have this conversation from time to time It feels daunting this task that we've all been You know, given the folks that are working on this and by the way The collaborations and the partnerships we have with non-profits and really just people that care across all sectors Has made what we're seeing or what we're talking about, you know, the reduction. It's made it possible We don't do this without collaboration. So that's key But we talk about the fact that you know, this is probably never Going to get solved completely because it always just switches amorphs into something else and we're again We're playing ketchup, but What are we doing with what we have in the time that we're working on this to make a difference? And I think that's how you have to approach it or it can become discouraging at times You know, but to see progress is is making it worth and if you like if if everyone gives up There always has to be one person or collaborating on so many people If you stop then then the king need to go back to the store then every starfish just go, right? That's just that's my approach. I don't know some of you. I'm like, well, it's a victimless crime. You're making those choices It's not that simple. No, it's it's not a victimless crime In fact, if you sit with the parents of, you know, young people that have overdosed or or even Accidentally been poisoned by fentanyl and then you talk to them and and you find out that their siblings are struggling And then their friends struggle and then they're you know, if they're older adults Maybe they have a co-workers that you know, we're impacted by this and it's just a ripple effect that never stops I did not set the timer trail if you're watching this by the way Doesn't matter we can edit this part out too. I'm guessing we're yeah, we'll say 18 minutes. Let's go good news. It's always I like I commend you two for fighting this fight over and over and over and going and speaking to communities, especially here in northeast florida It's it's daunting. It's exhausting Last year was was a win, right? It was a win. Yeah, what we saw CDC US overdose deaths decrease in 2023 for the first time since 2018. Yeah, let's take the wind Yes, that's absolutely, you know, we've saw about a 8% decrease in the state of florida, you know in Duvall County 3% reduction Uh, I'm horrible at math, but it's thousands That's a lot of starfurs say it again, Abby A thousand that's quite a few. It's just a time What do we have on here? I think I can't read this but it's highlighted for you If you want to read that provisional data from CDC's national center for health statistics indicate that there was an estimated 107 Thousand drug overdoses deaths in the united states during 2023 a decrease of 3% from 111 Now I got to do math. Yeah, and you read that too. We might have to edit that reading out So we just know that it's gone. So it's a minimum of let's say 6,000 6,000 lives in the state of florida. That's a small town. I mean that I tell you what it's not it's not it's not exciting It doesn't you can't put this on the news and like win that versus so-and-so's son died of an overdose But guess what? 6,000 lives I tell you what a deal, man If you spoke with the dozens of parents that we've sat down with who've lost a child And I say a child their teenagers are most of them are in their 20s But they would say that that was a significant number and they would wish that their child was one of those statistics That's the thing a lot of times we throw these numbers around and we throw these Data points and these percentages of increase and decrease and we forget that every one of these numbers represents a human life That was either lost or in this case You know that made it another day. I feel bad. I didn't read this. I love like specific numbers Here it is measurable, which again we can maybe that's the next conversation like numbers, and then we just talk about Whiteclaws and yeah time noons and all that stuff Sometimes you need a white car or a high noon to talk about some of those we laugh We laugh before we record about different types of Seltzer. Yeah, Seltzer's this this to me is In a world of just bad news bad news bad news bad news and people fighting Day after day a minute after minute month after month There was a decrease last year for the first time in a long time years in overdoses. So That's worth celebrating. Yeah, take that one But we don't stop. Oh, yeah, we never stop fighting That's the thing like if we could get in front of lawmakers, which a lot of people do You know, you have to advocate for more funding so that we can continue to You know see that snowball effect take place Um, you've got A lot of the things that we've seen working Need more funding, you know, push push that way so that we can continue to save lives Yeah, can you give some examples? You said yeah, yeah What funding you talk about innovating like what do you think? So I think you just flood money where can we flood innovation what we've seen work in the counties that we're You know working with and even across the state of florida with the other Project opioids is awareness making sure that you know people are being educated on what the current Narrative of the overdose crisis looks like what's causing deaths, which as we know is still fennel Primarily fake pills disguised as prescription meds, you know, don't experiment with drugs anymore You can't do that everything's got the potential for you know death not just Some kind of bad high. Yeah, could literally die from sedentary System push that out because as much as we talk about it and get tired of hearing ourselves say it There are people in the communities that we serve that still have never heard that and so it's it's important to keep that out um In front of the media, you know, we have tremendous media partners beyond y'all with podcast and the radio show But even the news and and just everyone. Yeah, just helping us get the word out. So we're an aware notification Um more Narcan across, you know different communities So we've seen that make a huge impact getting more naloxone And the hands of people training them how to use it So that they're not afraid to act if they walk up to somebody that you know or walk past somebody that's experiencing an overdose Let me plug this now like we make sure it's about sponsorships Narcan sponsor this show i'm not talking about paying for the show Access to Narcan is is now more available than it was when I was at the fire department. There's a shortage. Yeah every business owner Every parent every school I think like we're talking about north east florida But nationwide if you're in north east florida and you don't have Narcan next to your aed You can be delusional. We don't need it, but you Narcan Everywhere it's it's inexpensive. It's so easy to use And who cares if you throw it out, right? Why would you not have all right now? It's free because i'm grant funding that's coming from you know the settlement funds But so and that's the other thing if if a listener wants Narcan You can buy it at the pharmacy now. It's 50 bucks that publics don't do that Contact us reach out to eric, you know personally TJ war hey you can call me. You can call. I don't want to share my cell phone But yeah Say it again. Say it again Us on facebook or instagram porta topioi jacks on both facebook and instagram if you And the other thing we're trying to do but you know it's Thinking of moving forward is get this in the hands of businesses train their employees their management their HR On how to use it have it in the the places of business. It's easy to use It's a five-minute training is something that is you know I think most people could figure it out especially when I can figure it out Anyone could figure it especially with the directions on the inside flap of the box But you know we like to share on some of the things that people should know um, but you know Businesses get this this these resources to them free of charge The training to them free of charge. That's part of what we do through the chamber Is try to engage with businesses and help them understand that it's important that they create a Recovery-friendly workplace for those who might be struggling and it's easy to do It's not a heavy lift. There's some things that we can do for them At right now that are free of charge because grant funds pay for it So we would love to connect with any of the businesses that listen to your show and love that and talk to them about it So trace chomping to the bit to say something At this point, why is an archive Narcan not in like your first scene kit is that is this could that be a It absolutely could that's how we try to promote it because there are still people that have the stigma of what Narcan could do as far as enable people to You know continue to use or you know that it is some mysterious thing that they wouldn't be able to To do or use and it's really simple So we try to promote for that and advocate for that and make it a part of your first aid kit Put it with your defibrillator You know make sure that it's there for when you you need it a lot of medical professionals are using Narcan First before they try to figure out what's first wrong Yeah, first but because it can't hurt it can only help So if somebody's not experiencing an overdose and you put Narcan in their Why we want to get in front of some of these businesses or anybody any organization to help them understand some of the things They might have questions like when you take it out you don't prime it because it's a one-punk thing So as soon as you deploy it, it's gone Let you for me to know that let's dive a little more into that too to like promote this so I think that's transit We work with businesses all the time It's not a fun topic. You know, it's like hey, by the way, there might be a Person in your company that's taking opioids is laced with fentanyl like it's not exciting But the right people it matters sure just just have it there understand how simple it is Cost I don't want to say cost-effective. There is no cost or if there is like, why would you not as my dad? Why would you be hot? I think again the stigma, you know, they're you know, if we don't want to think that there could be people that are in Get no one in my office and are taking organization that is struggling with this with the truth is There are and it's impacting in fact the leading cost for employers related to health care has to do a substance use disorder and mental health And abby mentioned this earlier. I can't remember if she said it when we're recording But still leading cause of death for people under the age of 50 overdose. Let's go stats Oh, that's just it. Yeah, that was deep. That was deep Abby so think about who's working in the majority of the you know of the workplace less than 50 right now, so You know, it's a thing that is impacting all of us whether we're willing to admit it or not and if you don't have Folks who are struggling then chances are you have people that work for you that have somebody else spouse They really care about yeah, they may have left them there to go to work and now all they can think about while they're trying to work for you is I hope my child's not Trying to get into some pills or you know, I hope they're not overdacing that So again 212 benefits our company we we work in employee benefits. It's not exciting. It's expensive, right? So every year are the costs that we work in they go up every single year 8% is Increase is pretty normal which is what industry can you your costs go up 8 to 10 percent every year and you're okay with that So an 8% decrease That's a big deer you go right if you're growing a business and you go 8% year over year You're celebrating It's a great if you're trying to cut costs as a business owner and it goes down 8% you're celebrating. I don't I think Back to what you said. Why would you especially if somebody's offering you free resources to help bring that cost down You know, if you've got people who are healthy in your organization and aren't You know, are getting the resources they need to address this issue then they're they're saving you money YouTube by the way are a direct correlation with that I just I can't commend you too enough that this is an exhausting grind I would assume Going out and talking about a topic that's not shiny. It's not like hey business Let's make you more money by selling this product. It's like we want to talk about possibly losing lives and your employees that are dealing with this so I commend you I mean free things you said increased awareness you nailed that Increased distribution of Narcan again, not exciting but matters. What was the third? So the utilization of what are referred to as peer support specialists and these are people who are Who have lived experience they've gone through this In their own lives and so now they're giving back they've become certified on how to To navigate the recovery process and they can help people who have overdosed and are coming out of that Maybe they're in the hospital, you know, they come alongside them and say hey I've been where you are and I can help you take the next step And I can walk you through that what we refer to as a continuum of care to get the help you need to get the You know resources the counseling the mental health counseling the the medication You know the group therapy we can help you get through that and so a lot of times people who are You know in the grips of addiction will listen to somebody that's been where they are Way more than they're going to listen to somebody like you or me who's never had You know been there. I mean f-worm I'll share my like I've had addiction issues me Yeah I don't mind sharing not not that world. I've lost my brother passed away not from this but right we I think stories matter So the peer-reviewed stuff is that is that a family member? Like we'll give a shout out to brock pal He's got a great story. You know getting closer with him. That's how we met him and I met originally was through you Those peers supporting is that someone who experienced the issues in demons or a family member who lost someone? It could be both but a lot of times is somebody that's been there Personally has experienced that what it's like to Need that or to you know to experience a withdrawal from that So they're willing to do whatever it takes to not have to go through that pain And so they know what it's like to come out of that you know and and to get healthy and to be able to You know take their next step forward and that that recovery process so now they can help somebody use You know just experience the overdose and what is the next step they take? How do they get access to those resources? So we say somebody that has lived experience because again They have a story that they can share with somebody that you know and they're living proof Of the fact that evidence that you can be evidence based practice. There's nothing more powerful. Yeah, so Increased awareness must increase distribution of Narcan have it available. It's inexpensive Increased peer support specialist. Yeah What else like what's something like you're like man. I think we could have I would say it helps Like is it a fourth or fifth to the list? Yeah, I think this goes with the education part You know if you say awareness education, but breaking down the stigma We talk about the stigma that's associated with this You know if you can help people understand that this is a disease and not a moral failure It's not like these people You know intentionally want to be in the grips of of this addiction It's that their brain has been rewired by this substance and now You know in order to avoid withdrawal, they're going to do whatever they can to get that back in their body So, you know breaking down the stigma so If people can learn that this again is not a moral failure They could show some compassion towards those who are struggling and that really can make a huge impact all the way around She's falling asleep. I was appointed Abby by the way. I love pointing Anything you'd add to that what's like you've lived in this For a bit anything you'd add like man if we could just start doing more of this besides the big three warrants Increased awareness increased history Yeah, I think getting to kids When there is the youngest possible as soon as some of the child is able to Converness you know and how it can affect them later in life They need to be educated about this parents need to be educated about this. They need to be talking to their kids Um, you know to be wary don't ever take something that a friend might give you, you know It the most what is it a an ounce of prevention is worth a pound of cure If we can prevent young people and empower them to get the mental health services that they need before they need to go itself like a you know dumping money and resources at time into preventing it from happening in the first place is Prevention is more powerful than treatment. I think And that's you know, that's really what we do and we have so many partners that are on the treatment and recovery side and that is absolutely needed. I mean the majority of the people that chorus struggle or are in need of those services so but if we can you know like a partner organization of ours says if we can get upstream and try to Head it off before it even becomes an issue then not only you're saving money taxpayer dollars, you know Funding from from grant resources, but you're saving lives because people aren't even going down that path to begin with I didn't set the timer correctly. So I don't know if that's accurate But I got a really heavy question. We're not gonna be able to go into This is tough. Okay What makes more money in the United States sick people or healthy people? Oh sick people That's a heavy that's a really really brutal thing to open up and talk about maybe next time we tell all that I'd love to yeah Any more thing that we like shout outs proud moments What's coming up right we let's see that what's coming up like but I'm like, man. We did this I'm so proud of what we done in the last six months. Here it is So something we recently did back in May with sheriff hardware in St. John's County is one of our overdose awareness seminars We do this in the counties in which we work where we bring the community together and share with them what it looks like You know in their specific context. So we have a a panel of subject matter experts like the sheriff You know like the fire chief like In the trenches You have the public school system a medical director from a treatment facility and just ask them specific questions And let them use their expertise to explain to the community. Here's what we're doing to address it Here's what it looks like. You know what was really impactful is in the middle of The q&a because I moderate the the event and the q&a You know panel in the middle of it while we were alive in the at the event Uh the sheriff and the medical director for the fire rescue department both received a call of a 14 year old boy who overdose And their people were being deployed to that overdose while we were so it was a real time Example, I'm getting chills. It was a real time example Of this is happening right in your community, you know some of the the Wealthier communities don't necessarily like to talk about it as much as this But I tell you what the leaders in that community are bringing it front and center and so it was a huge um when Not only for the the community for those organizations But for us, you know to see Like this event come together and so many people collaborating to make a difference and so that was really special I think that was really cool when still you don't know the date. We had a wall coming up Got a wall coming up. We do know the date We're just trying to get the permit shout out to mayor hoffman jacks beach mayor hoffman jacks beach Obviously 31st at the international overdose awareness day. So we are doing a memorial walk In jacks and mill beach We'll start at nine 30 in the morning. Um, and it'll go probably till then at 30 years So we'll have um some vendors out there to share resources will give a brief presentation And then we'll do about a mile walk. Um, just remember it said those who've lost their lives um to drug it Yeah, okay, we have a young lady who her brother passed and that this was her idea As she wanted to honor her brother and and help other people help bring awareness to the fact that this is happening You know in her community and so She kind of spearheaded this we're partnering with her along with several other organizations to make this a reality and Again mayor hoffman has always been so good to help us with press conferences or yeah that we've done Yeah, so we're you know, we're confident that we'll have the permitting we need to do that But we're hoping that people will come out and and just show some support by walk and a half a mile down and a half a mile back And you know again more than mayor. Yeah Always a heavy topic Good and bad. We had some fun the first effort. Yeah, we did But if you don't talk about it, what would change is nothing exactly. You don't share the information. Nothing changes So that was a blast. We appreciate you giving us a platform anytime you will Then one day like let's just have fun. Let's just do some fun stuff. Yeah TJ ward the hat trick. Oh, I don't like 3p the hat tricks good third time here first time in this studio First yes in this studio. Yeah. Yeah, man. I mean we've had one here But that was before we redid it it will go it got really weird the heat kicked on it was a mess Doesn't matter TJ ward project opioid. Thank you for joining three times now. You're coming back. That's what the hell just happened And You You You You (upbeat music) [BLANK_AUDIO]