USA
Executive Board Minutes
January 14, 2009 3:30 PM @
UD Cooperative Extension Office
Attending: Cindy Genau-UD Cooperative Extension
Harry Baetjer, Tower
Hill School
Yvonne Nass, Parent
Education Consulting Services
Rosemary Brooks,
Sanford School Parent
Erica Melman, OPEI
Liz Dubravcic,
Tatnall Parent, Public Safety
Kathy Ward, YMCA
Resource Center
Linda Brasel, Arcadia University,
Building Bridges
Staff
Attending:
Roberta Gealt, USA Director
Mary Perno, USA
Project Coordinator
Discussions:
American Lung
Association Grant- A draft poster was handed out. Comments indicated that the picture was more
appropriate to middle school youth than high school youth, that it might be
misconstrued to be about marijuana rather than cigarettes, and that the text
was too long. Back to the drawing board.
OPEI-TAAG-Letters
concerning the awards for this program were purportedly mailed the day prior to
the USA meeting, and no other information could be provided. This mini-grant of $5000 would support Town
Hall Meetings on Underage Drinking in multiple school settings, since no
Federal funding will be provided for this project this year.
SIG
Grant-The state has submitted an application for this grant
which would provide over two million dollars per year for five years for
prevention in Delaware. Notification of
awards will go out in March. If Delaware
is awarded a SIG, USA will actively participate in developing and implementing
a strategic prevention plan for New Castle County outside of Wilmington.
DFC-The
application for this DFC grant for $100,000, which provides most of USA’s
funding, is due on March 2nd.
This will be your 9 for USA, with a maximum of ten years of support from
this source.
Game
Show-The game continues under development.
Parent
Chat-Transition to College-This program is set for Wednesday, March
4th at 6:00 PM at Newark High School. We have 2 confirmed speakers, so far; Cathy
Skelley (UD Residence Life) and Nicole Solomon (UD Wellspring). We’re waiting to hear from Dennis Harris and
Holli Harvey (UD Judicial). Other suggestions
were:
·
Public Safety from UD and maybe another
college
·
Admissions Office (Christine Schultz)
·
Greg Miculucci, Newark PD
·
Newark PD Chief
·
UD Police Chief or maybe Skip Homiak from UD
·
Ask Nicole Solomon to bring students with her,
as she did last year
·
Ask fraternity or sororities to provide
students to respond to parents’ questions
Policy
Forum-Scheduled for Tuesday, March 3rd at Buena
Vista from 8:40-4:30 PM, this meeting will be co-sponsored by USA and DDATA to
bring consensus on policy direction recommendations, based on review of current
data on substance use and related consequences in Delaware. Letters of invitation are being developed and
we are working to get the meeting on Jack Markell’s schedule.
Physicians
& Pharmacists-A review of the literature in this area has
revealed two main points that USA could educate physicians and pharmacists on,
as well as others—first, Delaware has an “alcohol exclusion law” which states that
if you go into a trauma unit for a drug or alcohol related incident for a drug
or alcohol related event, the insurance company is not responsible for covering
the costs associated with that event. One
consequence of this is that most ER’s and Trauma Units will not ask if alcohol
or drugs were involved. This makes data
concerning alcohol and drug-related events unreliable. Second, it also prevents the use of a
strategy—the Screening, Brief Intervention, and Referral to Treatment
(SBIRT)—which has proven to be effective in reducing alcohol use; DUI’s and
repeat ER visits in a variety of target populations. This simple brief procedure—usually
consisting of six to ten short questions, followed, if necessary, by a very
brief verbal intervention or, if necessary, by a referral to a more in-depth
screening for an appropriate level of treatment—can be done in wellness centers
as well. There are now codes to be used
for screening and brief interventions for insurers and Medicaid, so that
physicians will be reimbursed for their time for this procedure.
USA
Notes- The newest USA Notes was handed out; all of the
information in it is true and has been relatively consistent over the
years.
CADCA-Roberta
and Mary will be attending the CADCA Conference in Washington, DC the week of
February 8th. We have
confirmed appointments with Congressman Castle’s office and Senator Carper’s
office. We are waiting to hear back from
Senator Kaufman’s office for an appointment time of 4:30 on Feb. 10th.
The next USA Executive Meeting will be on Wed.
February 18th at 3:30 PM at Arcadia University.