February 13, 2019

 

Pres. Tom: Circulated for signature a "Get Well" card for our District Governor ... We have a Thank You note from ORCSD for our donation to the Joe Murdoch Memorial Scholarship Fund ... Announced a change in the date for our winter social.  It will now be Wed, Feb 20th from 6 - 8 PM at Flag Hill.  This will be in lieu of our regular meeting that date.  It's pot luck.  (Sorry for any confusion folks - I can't change the sidebar.)

 

Bill D: The bluebird house assembly project is off.  Bill put all 43 of them together himself.  Bill is pricing them at $15 or two for $25. 

 

John: Charitable Fund is at $7,535; Club Operations at $4,293.

 

Phil introduced Andrew West who operates Bonfire Recovery Services and Bonfire Behavioral Health out of Dover.  Out of personal experience, Andrew saw the need for housing and employment services for recovering drug or alcohol addicts.  He operates a 32 bed facility for men, and is working to build another, larger facility on the Seacoast.  Residents can expect to stay at the shelter for 6 - 12 months after medically-supervised detox.  The Behavioral Health operation provides clinical services to abusers on an outpatient basis, and is approved by insurance companies.

 

Phil also introduced Eddie Edwards whose focus is the prevention of drug abuse.  He was a police chief and head of the liquor commission here in NH.  There are 1 million kids under the age of 5 who are on psychiatric medication.  He believes we are creating a drug culture.  A vast majority of the incarcerated have a drug abuse issue.  Cities with drug abuse have a hard time attracting new businesses because the employers see the difficulty in finding reliable employees.  NH has received $46 million under the State Opioid Response from the federal government.  To put it to work effectively, NH needs more frontline clinical people.  UNH offers a Masters in Social Work degree and we hope that our future drug counselors will flow from that program.  The DARE program is offered only in the 5th grade, but it needs to continue throughout a youngster's school years.  Narcan saves lives, but it contributes nothing to the prevention of abuse.

 

Megabucks: $208

 

Editor: Ric