While we waited for President Michelle to return with a missing dongle for her laptop, conversations ranged widely from new gun laws in Tennessee to the effectiveness of gun silencers to the flyability of the Boeing 737 Max-8 to the fiftieth anniversary of the sit-in of the Parker House at Dartmouth. PDG Bruce Pacht admitted to attending a recent gathering of Dartmouth alums who had participated in the Parker House protest. Who knew? Jonathan Blodgett expressed pleasure for the success of the most recent Rotary After Hours gathering at Salt hill Pub—an event that takes place the second Monday of every month at 6:00 p.m.
Meeting:
Vice President Melissa Golightly rang the bell in the temporary absence of President Michelle and led the membership in the Pledge of Allegiance and the recitation of the Four-Way Test. She introduced visiting District Governor Larry Vars, who went over the programs being planned for the International District 7850 Conference in Sherbrooke, Québec. The conference will offer a wide range of programs on goal setting, cyber security, Peace Scholars, Interact clubs, etc. The service project this year will be the assembly of 600 pillows designed to be used by women who have had breast surgery. The Saturday gala will feature music of the past one hundred years. Governor Larry reminded us that the list prices are in Canadian dollars, so the actual price for a couple attending the full conference is under $300 each—a real bargain for such a conference. President Michelle returned in time to remind us of how much fun Canadians and wine always provide.
District Governor Larry Vars urges everyone to attend this year's
district conference in Sherbrook.
Bruce Pacht reminded everyone to sign up for our PolioPlus Pie Day event. Tim Guaraldi has “business cards” for people to hand out as reminders to possible Pie Day patrons.
Brags
Don McMeekin gave $3 in honor of today’s visit by the district governor and $2 in honor of the lengthy article on Ernst Oidtmann in the Lebanon Times.
Bruce Pacht reported on the New England PETS conference held last weekend. Over 400 presidents elect from Maine to Connecticut participated. Energized Interact youth were present promoting a shoe drive for Haiti. Bruce presented President Michelle with a Rotary pin from RI President Elect Mark Maloney emblazoned with this year’s Rotary theme—"Connect the World.”
Hank Clarke paid for staffing the gates for Dartmouth hockey over the weekend. Dartmouth won the first game, lost the second in overtime, and won the third with an 8-0 blowout. Hank also paid for his birthday on March 17.
Steve Whitman asked for more drivers for taking our Interact kids to the Sherbrook conference.
Bill Babineau paid for his and Debbie’s thirty-eighth wedding anniversary.
Program:
Narcan and the Community
Bridget Aliaga and Steven Yannuzzi from DHMC’s Community Health Improvement program spoke on “The Use of Narcan in the Community.” The entire nation is experiencing an opioid crisis, but New Hampshire is especially hard hit—over 400 deaths in 2018. Addiction to opioids occurs at all income levels. Only because of the use of naloxone did fatalities slightly decrease in 2017-18. The statistics do not differentiate how many New Hampshire overdose deaths might be suicides. Overdose deaths in the Upper Valley are relatively low compared to some parts of the state, particularly Manchester, Concord, and Nashua. Interstates 93 and 91 establish northeast drug corridors.
Opioids operate chemically by attaching to receptors in the brain. As the number of attached receptors increases, the respiratory system shuts down. Naloxone (Narcan) acts by taking over the receptors and preventing the opioids from attaching. The effect is almost immediate, and the overdose victims wakes up—often angry and agitated. Naloxone acts only upon opioid attachment and has no other side effects. Naloxone has been around for years: it was first used in operating rooms to reverse any adverse effects of opioid sedation.
If someone comes upon an unconscious person and doesn’t know whether the unconscious individual is an overdose victim, it is still safe to administer naloxone—even if the victim is actually having a diabetic incident, for example. No harm is done. The administration of naloxone doesn’t fix the actual addiction problem, but will at least provide the victim with the opportunity to seek treatment. Naloxone will also work on a fentanyl overdose, but fentanyl operates so fast that treatment has to be given almost immediately.
In the Upper Valley, the relatively lower overdose death rates can be partially attributed to the successful administration of Naloxone. This fact is evidence of the importance for people to have naloxone with them in such public places as grocery store parking lots, etc. The administration of naloxone has been shown to decrease the necessity of the victim overdoses again. The nasal apparatus that is the standard instrument for administering naloxone is as easy to use in an emergency as might be compared to the use of a fire extinguisher for the first time. Good Samaritan legislation protects anyone from liability in the administration of naloxone, but no one is required to administer it. A call to 911 is a step everyone can take.
Bridget Aliaga and Steven Yannuzzi speak to the on the importance
of naloxone in addressing the opioid crisis.
When an overdose victim wakes up, he or she is not required to go to a hospital for treatment, but the danger of an immediate relapse is possible depending upon the quantity of opioid in the victim’s body. Families should act as if an unconscious person is an overdose victim even if they can’t be sure. The more an opioid addicted person uses the drug, the more opioid that person needs to get high; and after a certain amount of time the victim requires opioids just to feel normal. If the victim has been abstinent for a while and relapses by going back to his/her last dosage, the possibility of an overdose greatly increases.
Fentanyl, which has been around a long time, is being added to street opioid. It has moved out from being used only by the guy in the alleyway to inadvertently being used by the contemporary victim of opioid prescription abuse. Prescriptions should be stored safely, and unused portions should be disposed of. The drugs should not be flushed down the toilet. Dissolving kits are available. Just as it took a long time to address cigarette addiction effectively, it will take a long time to eliminate opioid misuse.
