On June 5, 2018, RCASA received a donation of $500 from Rotary Club of Reading, Rotary District 7930 and Lahey Health to support RCASA’s OPERATION OPIOID PREVENTION.
RCASA will coordinate OPERATION OPIOID PREVENTION workshops on opioid misuse reaching 150 students enrolled in the freshman Intro to Health course at Reading Memorial High School. Erica McNamara, RCASA Director and Brian Lewis, School Resource Officer will facilitate these workshops for freshman students from June 12-14, 2018. The workshops will be based on materials provided by the DEA and Discovery Channel Education. Classroom teachers, Katherine Fiorello and Michelle Hopkinson are in support of the project.
The mission is to educate students about the true impacts of opioids and kick-start lifesaving conversations in the home and classroom. The goal is to deliver an OPERATION OPIOID PREVENTION WORKSHOP for each Intro to Health classroom over 3 days. Students will participate in the workshop; complete an evaluation and receive a 12-page toolkit to take home to their parents.
The materials provided by the DEA/Discovery Channel Education are designed to be a no cost or low cost program to implement within the classroom using the Smartboard. However, there is a need to print the OPERATION OPIOID PREVENTION High School Educator Guides (95 pages) to prepare the facilitators, provide a copy each to the 2 classroom teachers as well as print 165 Parent Toolkits. The costs of printing these resources will be supported by the Rotary donation.
According to Erica McNamara, RCASA Director, “There is a critical need for these workshops targeted to high school students to stem the tide of opioid abuse. RCASA is grateful for this generous donation to mitigate the costs of materials necessary to fulfillment of the project’s mission. RCASA also appreciates the support of the RMHS Health & Wellness Educators to include this important workshop in their program.”
Special thanks to the Rotary Club of Reading, Rotary District 7930, Lahey Health, Reading Police Department, Reading Memorial High School Wellness Program, and DEA/Discovery Education.
How can people learn more about this project?
Learn more at reading.k12.ma.us/community/rcasa
