I N S I D E T H I S

I S S U E :

Funeral Homes 1

PFS and SHOP 2

Prom Initiatives 2

PRIDE Results 3

NJ PMP Training 4

S P R I N G 2 0 1 5 V O L U M E 4

U PCOMING

SC RATCH

MEETINGS :

March 11

April 8

May 13

All meetings are

from 9-10:30am at

Inspira Hospital,

501 W. Front St.,

Elmer NJ 08318 in

the Community

Room on the

2nd Floor

The SCRATCH Post

S C R A T C H I N G O U T S U B S T A N C E A B U S E S I N C E 2 0 1 2

An initiative of The Southwest Council, Inc.

SCRATCH Coalition Coordinator Cory Gilden

1405 N. Delsea Dr. 856-794-1011, x316

cory@southwestcouncil.org

Cadca

Police chiefs meetings

Marijuana conference

Funeral Homes Educate Families Every day 40 Americans die from an

overdose caused by prescription drug pain

killers, according to the US Centers for

Disease Control. Most of the people who

abuse prescription medication get them from

a friend or relative, sometimes resorting to

stealing them out of medicine cabinets.

In an effort to prevent unused

prescription drugs from being stolen and

abused, the three coalitions of The South-

west Council, Inc. are partnering with funer-

al homes in the region to educate the public

about proper prescription drug disposal.

The Salem-Cumberland Regional

Action Toward Community Health

(SCRATCH) Coalition, Cumberland County

Healthy Communities Coalition (CCHCC)

and the Gloucester Regional Addictive

Substances Prevention (GRASP) Coalition

first set out to collaborate with funeral

homes toward the end of 2014.

The initiative is now gaining

momentum, with 12 funeral homes in the tri-

county area pledging to provide or have

readily available cards and flyers with

prescription drug drop box locations and

proper drug disposal methods for their

clients.

The coalitions

sought out funeral

homes as a route to

educate the com-

munity since many

people nearing the

end of their days

often take powerful

pain relievers and

other drugs that can

be dangerous if

abused. The infor-

mation that will be

distributed by funeral home directors can

help prevent accidental poisonings and

potentially dangerous abuse that could

happen if the unused drugs are left in homes.

The cards and flyers tell residents about

how to deposit unused, unwanted or expired

prescription drugs at drop boxes located at

participating law enforcement agencies

across the region. The materials also display

step-by-step instructions on how to properly

dispose of prescription medications at home

for those residents who are unable to reach a

drop box.

It is recommended that funeral home

directors introduce the prescription drug dis-

posal materials to clients at the point of

intake, as part of their usual packet of mate-

rials about funeral options and procedures.

The coalitions of The Southwest Council

congratulate the following funeral homes

that have joined in the effort and taken a

stand to keep their communities safe: HT

Layton Funeral Home, Ashcraft Funeral

Homes, Rone Funeral Service, Demarco-

Luisi Funeral Home, Sray-Webster Funeral

Home, Wainwright-Bernhardt Funeral

Home, Davis & Wagner Funeral and Crema-

tion Services, Daley

Life Celebration Stu-

dios, Cheega Funeral

Home, Mathis Funer-

al Home, McGuin-

ness Funeral Home

and Kelley Funeral

Home.

Check out news

coverage of the effort

online at:

http://issuu.com/

scratchcoalition/

stacks

P A G E 2

T H E S C R A T C H P O S T

The Partnership for Success (PFS) Coalition in Cumberland and Salem County (an initiative of the Salem Cumberland Regional Action Toward Community Health Coalition, also known as SCRATCH) focus-es on tobacco prevention, prescription drug abuse, seniors, underage drinking and returning veterans in the community. They facilitate free workshops for parents, seniors and youth on underage drinking, pre-scription drug abuse and the proper disposal of prescription medication. The PFS in Cumberland and Salem Counties is extending their efforts into the community with a new senior taskforce, Senior Health Outreach Project (SHOP). SHOP is a taskforce of community part-ners that aims to decrease tobacco use in public housing complexes, to limit prescription drug misuse and to increase opportunities for healthy activities in their communities. Our first course of action will be to administer a needs assessment for seniors in Cumberland, Salem and Gloucester County, so that we can best address the targeted issues of the task force. The sur-vey will be used to collect data and monitor attitudes and knowledge about prescription drug misuse and disposal in the region.

PFS Taskforce Seeks Input for Senior Survey

Please encourage seniors to take our brief survey! Cumberland and Salem County senior residents:

fluidsurveys.com/s/rxdisposalsurvey

Prom season is fast approaching, and with this hyped up event often comes pressure on teens to experi-ment with alcohol. In efforts to start conversations about underage drinking among families, the SCRATCH Coali-tion and the Cumberland County Healthy Communities Coalition are taking the opportunity around prom time to remind parents not to host parties where there will be underage drinking and to remind students that there are other alternatives to drinking to have fun. The SCRATCH Coalition will be distributing info cards at Pennsville Me-morial High School in March that lists penalties for households hosting underage drinking parties. The back of the card will offer an opportunity to enter in a drawing for a free tux rental, flowers or hair style from a local business. To enter the raffle, parents simply need to answer a few questions about their percep-tion of underage drinking in the area. The CCHCC is currently asking Cumberland County youth to submit en-tries for a design that will be featured on a tuxedo card. Past designs have fea-tured alternative fun activities for teens on prom night instead of drinking. The pocket-sized tuxedo card will be placed in tuxedos in local stores so they will be found by teens renting them for prom.

Using Prom to Talk About Underage Drinking

P A G E 3

Students’ Past 30 Day Use Marijuana Rx Drugs Alcohol Cigarettes

9th grade 9.3% 2.7% 16.0% 6.7%

10th grade 15.0% 5.0% 25.0% 10.0%

11th grade 5.3% 0.0% 15.8%% 10.5%

12th grade 22.9% 6.3% 24.5% 14.6%

Students’ Perception of Risk Marijuana Rx Drugs Alcohol Cigarettes

9th grade 62.2% 82.9% 69.7% 78.9%

10th grade 40.0% 70.0% 55.0% 70.0%

11th grade 77.8% 83.3% 77.8% 88.9%

12th grade 38.3% 78.7% 66.0% 68.1%

Students’ Perception of Parents’ Disapproval Marijuana Rx Drugs Alcohol Tobacco

9th grade 83.6% 90.4% 91.8% 86.3%

10th grade 55.0% 65.0% 50.0% 65.0%

11th grade 94.4% 100.0% 94.4% 94.4%

12th grade 75.6% 89.1% 75.6% 87.0%

Students’ Perception of Friends’ Disapproval Marijuana Rx Drugs Alcohol Tobacco

9th grade 63.9% 79.2% 61.1% 68.1%

10th grade 45.0% 60.0% 35% 45.0%

11th grade 44.4% 72.2% 55.6% 55.6%

12th grade 32.6% 67.4% 52.2% 41.3%

Age of First Use Marijuana Rx Drugs Alcohol Tobacco

9th grade 13.1 14.0 12.9 12.9

10th grade 13.5 10.0 13.8 13.0

11th grade 15.7 14.0 14.9 13.5

12th grade 14.9 16.7 14.7 13.7

Students’ Perception of Availability Marijuana Rx Drugs Alcohol Tobacco

9th grade 31.9% 26.4% 40.3% 29.2%

10th grade 27.8% 22.2% 61.1% 38.9%

11th grade 31.6% 36.8% 57.9% 42.1%

12th grade 67.5% 30.8% 67.5% 67.5%

Last fall, PRIDE Surveys were conducted at Cumberland County High Schools. PRIDE is an anonymous survey reliant on self-reporting by the participants. In the state of New Jersey, all student survey participants need active consent from their parents or guardians to participate. All schools in the region are approached, however, some elect not to participate.

The survey is administered by the Cumberland County Healthy Communities Coalition (CCHCC) with assistance from school staff and faculty. The results are used to determine appropriate prevention and intervention initiatives. The CCHCC has administered this survey five times since 2008 and plans to approach county middle schools in the spring to garner participation for the beginning of next school year.

The Salem-Cumberland Regional Action Toward Community Health (SCRATCH) Coalition also plans to administer the PRIDE Survey in Salem County middle schools this fall. If you are school personnel at a middle school in Salem or Cumberland Counties and would like the PRIDE Survey conducted at your school, please contact Cory Gilden at 856-794-1011, ext. 316 or cory@southwestcouncil.org for more info.

Demographics Participating Schools: 4 Students surveyed: 163 9th grade: 76 10th grade: 20 11th grade: 19 12th grade: 48 Male students: 54 Female students: 98

2014 Cumberland High Schools PRIDE Results

P A G E 4