Volunteer Awards Presented at Drug Free Montcalm

Members of Drug Free Montcalm supporting their co-volunteer for being selected as the Volunteer of the Month in July!

Volunteer of the Month - July 2013
Mary Thomas
Drug Free Montcalm

I was privileged to present the July Volunteer of the Month Award and the Drug Free Montcalm Meeting!  Mary Thomas has been extremely involved in keeping that group moving forward!

Read these kind words written by Amy Buckingham about 2 Drug Free Montcalm Volunteers who received awards recently!

Hello Drug Free Montcalm Friends,

We have a pleasant announcement to make.

Today seems to be a day of awards!  One of our members received a surprise presentation of an award today at our Drug Free Montcalm membership meeting, and now another of our members is being recognized for her ongoing, generous, and impactful volunteering in Montcalm County, too.

Mary K. Thomas, Registered Pharmacist currently with Countryside Pharmacy and formerly the Director of Pharmacy at Sheridan Hospital, was presented the “Volunteer of the Month” award today by Volunteer Connections and the United Way Montcalm-Ionia Counties for her work of diligently and successfully spearheading the medication disposal drop box project throughout Montcalm  County.  Later today, it was announced that Shirley Pool, Reporter with the Lakeview Area News, was chosen by the Michigan Coalition to Reduce Underage Drinking (MCRUD) for MCRUD’s annual “Media Shout Out Award” created to recognize a media person or organization for  outstanding work highlighting issues related to preventing/reducing underage drinking in our local area. 

We send congratulations and gratitude to both these wonderful volunteers and Drug Free Montcalm members!  Thank you, Mary, and thank you, Shirley!  We are glad you are being recognized for what you do so humbly.   The “late breaking news” is that Shirley is going to be honored at an event in Lansing this coming Thursday, July 18^th.  A few of us will be accompanying her to this outdoor luncheon event. 

If the rest of you should see Mary or Shirley, do share your congratulations, too!

Yours in service with the community,

Amy

Amy Buckingham Drug Free Montcalm Coalition Coordinator/ Health Promotion

A Branch of Cherry Street Health Services

PO Box 836, 129 E. Main St., Stanton MI 48888 ( 989.831.4591│6 989.831.5768 │* AmyBuckingham@CherryHealth.com

JULY Volunteer of the Month: Mary Thomas

July 2013  Volunteer of the Month

Mary Thomas

Mary is a registered Pharmacist currently employed by Countryside Pharmacy and formerly the Director of Pharmacy at Sheridan Hospital, Community Volunteer, driving force behind the formation and activities of the Medication Disposal Coalition of Montcalm County!

Drug Free Montcalm's Coordinator (and recent Volunteer of the Month for May) Amy Buckingham has nominated Mary for all of the hard work and volunteer hours Mary has dedicated to keeping Montcalm County Drug Free. Mary saw a crucial need in Montcalm County and initiated the process that eventually developed the Medication Disposal Coalition of Montcalm County (MDCMC). She is considered to be the driving force in creating the coalition then and the driving force behind all its activities since that time. 

The NEED... prescription drugs commonly fall into the hands of people other then who they are prescribed to doing harm in our community!

Problems with improper disposal or not disposing at all:

1.     Improper disposal of medications can harm the environment by reaching our water supply.
2.     Keeping unused, unwanted, or expired drugs in the home is a source for theft.
3.     Studies have shown teenage drug abuse often begins by taking prescription drugs from the medicine cabinets of family or friends.
4.       Accidental poisonings of children and pets. 

The Medication Disposal Coalition of Montcalm County (MDCMC) was formally created in January 2011, and recently joined Drug Free Montcalm (DFM). In the past, the MDCMC coordinated “Medication Drop-off Days” with local law enforcement throughout our county. Due to Drug Enforcement Agency (DEA) regulations, law enforcement had to obtain permission to accept legal controlled substances (which include narcotics) at the disposal events.  Mary and other Members of Drug Free Montcalm work to address the crucial environmental need of protecting our ground water from permanent contamination by medications, safety in terms of preventing accidental poisonings and potential thefts, and prevention of drug abuse, and its resultant potential injury, overdosing, addictions, etc. She also has created opportunities for others of all ages to volunteer (in tradition ways and in creative ones, such as by being a walking medication disposal drop box mascot!), and has built positive connections among sectors in the community (law enforcement, pharmacies, community members, etc.)

The ACTION...red drop-off containers stationed throughout Montcalm County.

In recent years, the DEA began to grant permission for medication drop-boxes to be placed in law enforcement agencies. Our local law enforcement encouraged the MDCMC to find a way to obtain these boxes, as they provide a much more convenient and accessible disposal method for the public. 

Riverhaven Substance Abuse Coordinating Agency purchased the medication drop-boxes for participating law enforcement agencies. A kick-off event was held at the Montcalm County Sheriff’s Office on September 24, 2012. The community has responded with bringing over 200 pounds of medication to the five drop-boxes in two months. How incredible is that?! 

Residents throughout Montcalm County have convenient ongoing access to a safe way to dispose of unneeded and/or unusable medications, the valuable service of law enforcement agencies has increased exposure, ground water is protected from irreparable contamination, children, youth, and adults are protected from accidental poisonings, there is an increasing awareness of the need to address medication abuse and its prevention, pharmacies are a part of a network that is building awareness and preventing medication related problems in the future, and there are more opportunities to others to volunteer.  

The IMPACT...

To give you an idea of how successful this new program has been, I’ll share a couple of comparisons. In October 2011, we had our first and only county-wide disposal event, which included four sites. A total of 400 pounds of medication was collected, not bad for a one-time event. During the past year, and up until the law enforcement medication drop-off boxes were installed, Sheridan Community Hospital Pharmacy collected 150 pounds of medication. Therefore, in two months, the law enforcement drop-off boxes have collected more than one site did in an entire year! Greenville Public Safety Director Mike Pousak was correct when he stated “The program seems to be making a positive impact on removing unwanted and expired medication from the home.” Not only is this program valuable in collecting medications, it is also helping our community in two other ways. First, the bottles are being collected by the Montcalm County Resource Recovery for recycling. And second, the large empty prescription bottles are sent to Montcalm County EMS to be used for the Vial of Life program. 

Carson City Police, Greenville Public Safety, Howard City Police, Lakeview Police, Montcalm County Sheriff’s Office, DFM, and MDCMC are active supporters of this valuable program and ask community members to take find a drop off location near them. Why not make it your New Year’s resolution to clean out those medicine cabinets? 
Edmore Police Department also has added a medication disposal drop box, more than 500 pounds of medication was collected and disposed of since the installation of the drop boxes this past fall. 

The only problem identified has been improper disposal of sharps. Sharps include anything with a needle, insulin syringes and lancets. We hope to have a solution to this problem in the near future, and ask that no sharps be placed into the medication drop-boxes. 

Mary researched this issue and the Drug Free Montcalm coalition is in the process of obtaining protective gloves designed to prevent needle sticks for the law enforcement officers to wear while handling the discarded medications in the case of sharps improperly being discarded in the drop boxes.  

With Mary's assistance the MDCMC has revised their informational brochures and distributed over 14,000 to homes through the schools, Head Start and Great Start educators, childcare providers, and to pharmacies, letter head and business cards listing the drop box locations and contact information for inquiries were created.  A mascot (red medication disposal drop box costume worn by a MDCMC member) was also created and debuted at the We Care For Kids Family Fun Day on April 13, 2013 at Montcalm Community College. 

Mary and another MDCMC member appeared on the WGLM Radio Morning program on June 25th, 7am-8am, to further inform the public of the existence of the drop boxes and the problems they are designed to prevent.

From the outside...my point of view as the coordinator for the Volunteer of the Month Program for Volunteer Connections.

My daughter, Heather and I had the privilege of working beside Mary and other MDCMC members, including her young daughter, Erika, while they were serving at the Drug Free Montcalm booth distributing informational materials, balloons, and parent surveys.  Heather and I were working at a Community Food Network booth at this same event distributing Healthy Recipes Cookbooks created by kids for kids and sharing information about local community gardens.  After learning that Amy had plans to provide free face painting at this event, and was short on volunteers, we made sure to get the booth space next to Drug Free Montcalm and work together.  More and more programs have been started in either Montcalm or Ionia County that are now working on expanding to the neighboring county. The Community Food Network started in Ionia County 5 short years ago, and has been working to expand into Montcalm County.  The ISD's in both Montcalm and Ionia County have been looking at ways to partner more together to save on resources and build stronger and better programs.  The Medical Reserve Corps is another group working together to cover both Montcalm and Ionia Counties partnering with Emergency Services, Public Health and local Hospitals to help make our community a safer, more prepared place to live.  Mary was one of the beginning members in the Medical Reserve Corps over 8 years ago when the program was started in Montcalm County.  Through the years as contact information and coordinators have changed, the group has lost some members.  By partnering with Drug Free Montcalm at the Kids Day event, I was able to reconnect with Mary as a volunteer.  As a volunteer coordinator, this excites me because I KNOW first hand the impacts we make on our community when we WORK together!  I look forward to working with Mary and other members of the Drug Free Montcalm coalition to keeping improving the safety of our community for our families!

As Volunteer of the Month Mary will receive...
The prize package this month includes a $20 Gift Card to Huckleberry's in Greenville, a Family Disaster Kit pack from the Medical Reserve Corps, a Healthy Kids Recipe Book and seed packets from the Community Food Network, a Volunteer T-Shirt and Certificate from Volunteer Connections and various other goodies from Montcalm County partners!  

If you see Mary, be sure to tell her "THANKS for VOLUNTEERING!"