Initiatives

Strategic Prevention Framework

Partnerships for Success

Funding from Ohio Mental Health and Addiction Services

And

Prevention First

The Strategic Prevention Framework Partnership for Success (SPF-PFS) community of Practice in Southeastern Ohio is an innovative way of empowering two rural, Appalachian communities (Adams and Lawrence Counties) to build their local prevention infrastructure.  Through a communities of practice model, Adams and Lawrence Counties have been engaging in a learning environment where they not only learn technical knowledge and skills, but also have been building a strong, supportive network.  In a community of practice (COP) environment, the prevailing narrative is “we rise by lifting each other,” as it is the shared and accumulated knowledge among the group that promotes communities to undertake larger and more complex activities.  As a COP the coalitions have completed the SPF in stages; with the end result being that each community will develop a data-driven, comprehensive plan to reduce underage drinking that utilizes evidence-based strategies that are culturally relevant and sustainable.

Data collection using the OHYES! Data Survey began in 2017.  Students in 7^th through 12^th grades attending Manchester Local School District or Ohio Valley Local School District complete the survey annually.

Goals

• Increase the capacity of Adams and Lawrence Counties to use the SPF to identify and select comprehensive strategies to reduce underage drinking among young people ages 9 to 20 that are evidence-based, culturally relevant, and sustainable.
• Decrease underage drinking among young people ages 9 to 20 by implementing evidence-based programs within the collaborating school districts and in the community at large to address factors that may lead to the initiation of use.
• Increase the capacity of Adams and Lawrence Counties to collect and report community-level data to evaluate progress toward reducing underage drinking among young people ages 9 to 20.
• Develop a mechanism for documenting program tools, materials, and successes/lessons learned to enhance the wide dissemination and adoption of best practices in substance abuse prevention.

Strategic Prevention Framework – Rx Grant

The Adams County Medical Foundation received funding from the Ohio Mental Health and Addiction Services (OhioMHAS) to focus on understanding the pressing substance issue of prescription drug abuse and misuse by gathering and analyzing relevant data, choosing a problem of practice, and assessing community readiness to address that problem of practice. 

Project initiatives included:

• Deterra Bag distribution to county medical providers; pharmacies; ACRMC; and Hospice of Hope.

Deterra is a simple, safe medication disposal system that prevents drug abuse by permanently deactivating pills, patches, liquids, creams and films right at home.  Safe drug disposal is important because opioid abuse is a national epidemic.  Destroying medications with Deterra ensures they won’t be stolen, abused or misused.  Proper disposal keeps children, pets, and others safe from accidentally ingesting unused or expired drugs.  By deactivating drugs, Deterra ensures dangerous medications won’t contaminate our ecosystem. 

• Summer Food Program Prevention Education
• Adams County Drug Take Back Days
• “Talk, They Hear You” Promotional Campaign
• Adams County Youth Led Coalition Capacity Building

Interact for Health

Impact of COVID-19 Pandemic on Tobacco Use 2021

The Adams County Medical Foundation received a $75,000 grant award to reduce vaping and other tobacco use among Adams County middle and high school students through digital marketing efforts and a cessation curriculum. 

Grant Objectives

1. Provide training to Manchester Local School District and Ohio Valley Local School District staff on youth tobacco use and cessation, with a specific focus on vaping.
2. Implement a digital vaping education marketing campaign in Adams County with input from the Adams County Youth Coalition.
3. Implement the N-O-T: Not on Tobacco program in Manchester Local School District and Ohio Valley Local School District.
4. Hold two tobacco take back days for students in Manchester Local School District and Ohio Valley Local School District.
5. Sustain efforts after funding from Interact for Health ends through the integration of tobacco prevention and cessation into the curriculum and student handbook at both school districts.

Grant Outcomes

1. Increase the number of quit attempts among students grades 7 through 12 at Manchester Local School District.
2. Increase the number of quit attempts among students grades 7 through 12 at Ohio Valley Local School District.
3. Increase the number of electronic communications that encourage tobacco cessation to students and parents.

The Adams County Medical Foundation sponsors the annual the Car for the Cure at the annual Gala fundraising event. The “Pink Car” is auctioned off as a part of the event’s Live Auction. The goal is to use the funds raised to pay for mammograms and breast ultrasounds for patients with no insurance or a deductible greater than $500.00.

The ACMF wants to recognize Barry’s Chevrolet-Buick who donated the Chevrolet Blazer for this year’s program and Sharon Ashley who purchased the “pink car” at this year’s Gala. C103 Radio station began the “Pink Car” initiative and has been taking the car to community events to promote the program and raise funds by allowing people to sign the car.

The facts about breast cancer are alarming! One in 8 women will get breast cancer and it is the 2 nd highest cancer among women, skin cancer being the first.  During the national pandemic in 2020 there was a 50% decrease in breast cancers being diagnosed due to the lack of testing. It is extremely important for women to receive their mammograms in a timely manner as the five-year survivor rate is 90% if caught in the early stages.

Mammography plays a critical part in diagnosing breast cancer. In the past, we would often find that a woman had breast cancer when she came in with a lump. Today, the cancers radiologists find on mammography are usually detected early, before they can be felt by the patient, are smaller than cancers felt by patients, and have much lower
levels of lymph node involvement.

Mammograms do not prevent breast cancer, but they can save lives by finding breast cancer as early as possible according to Susan Greenstein Orel, M.D.