Tag: community

On Wednesday, October 12, beginning at 7 PM, Dr. William Dempsey will be presenting “The Drug Problem Lurking in Your Home” in the Ryon Room of the Abington Community Library, 1200 W. Grove Street, Clarks Summit. A Lackawanna County Medical Society member (LCMS), Dr. Dempsey will be discussing prescription drugs and the need to ensure that appropriate safeguards are in place to protect against opioid misuse, abuse, and diversion. Dr. Dempsey specializes in family practice and emergency medicine. He works at the Wright Center for Primary Care – Mid Valley Clinic in Jermyn. He is also a member of the PA Medical Society’s opiate task force and serves on the PA Department of Health’s Prescription Drug Monitoring Program’s Advisory Board.  Laurie Cadden will facilitate conversation with Dr. Dempsey and his guest, Scott Constantini, Director of Behavioral Health at The Wright Center. This event, to be rebroadcast on ECTV, is co-sponsored by the Clearbrook Foundation / Families Helping Families program, in its 9th year at the Abington Community Library as part of the PA Forward Health Literacy initiative promoting the value of libraries in the 21^st Century.

The LCMS, with financial support from Commonwealth Health, has been coordinating a series of community health programs in 2016 and 2017 broadcast by ECTV, Scranton’s premiere public access network. Each segment in the series features local talk show host, Laurie Cadden, and a small panel of local medical and health care professionals informing viewers about important and relevant health issues. The purpose of these segments is to provide the public with useful and easy-to-understand information on a variety of health issues and advances in medicine to prevent and treat diseases and conditions. Programs are intended to be a dialogue, and are not meant to be technical. The goal is to help educate those with limited health literacy and increase their knowledge enough that they can feel comfortable speaking with their physician or other healthcare providers.

The Families Helping Families program at the Abington Community Library was started in 2008 to provide support for local families with a member in the early stages of recovery for drug or alcohol addiction, or simply more information on the problems and issues associated with them. It is facilitated by Gary Davis.

The Library will also be participating in the  “National Take-Back Initiative of Prescription Drugs Event” on Saturday, October 22^nd from 10am to 2pm. This event is sponsored by the Library, Lackawanna County Office of Drug and Alcohol Programs, and the Clarks Summit Police Department. Pills for adults and pets may be surrendered for safe and proper disposal at this event. The disposal service is free and anonymous for consumers and will be supervised by the Clarks Summit Police. In addition, LCMS Member, Dr. Paul Remick, will be attending with information on opioids and PAMED’s program, “Opioids for Pain: Be Smart. Be Safe. Be Sure.”. Dr. Remick specializes in Family Medicine and Addiction Medicine at Horizon Medical Corp and serves as the Medical Director of Lackawanna County Drug and Alcohol Treatment Services. For patients living, working, or traveling further down the valley, Taylor Community Library (710 South Main Street, Taylor) will also be hosting a “National Take-Back Initiative of Prescription Drugs Event” on Saturday, October 22^nd from 10am–2pm.