Brenda Tyrrell, Prevention Specialist with Community and Family Resources, visits about training programs CFR has available to community members. She said a recent program about recognizing addictions was well received and plans are to conduct more of those every few months. She talked about the upcoming Overdose Awareness Day in Ames on August 29th which is available to anyone. She also talked about Brandy Strawn, PMHNP, joining the team. She is a Psychiatric Mental Health Nurse Practitioner.
Transcript
On our program today, we're going to take time, visit with Brenda Terrell. Brenda is a prevention specialist, community and family resources. Welcome back. Thank you. Here we are. All ready? You're all ready for school to start? I mean, for you, well, part of it, I told people, I said, last time when we talked, you were trying to set up some programming in schools and doing things like that. So how's it been going? Have you been making the contacts and is it still coming together? What's happening? It's still coming together. It takes a little while. After you get some grants, it takes a little while to get your traction going. This week and next week, we are doing many, many trainings related to the new programming that we're doing as the person who's giving the program. We have to train ourselves before we can go and do that. We're really excited, though, because we have got some really good programming and it's going to be really exciting when we can get into the schools, plus, you know, we try not to bother school people in the summer, you know, it's just kind of, you know. When they get, once they get back and they're starting to look to fill things and do stuff like that. Right. Yeah. Yeah. And then it's a little easier to schedule in what you're going to do. Right. Yeah. Plus, you know, we have, you know, we have to get our training finished before we can do those things. We want to be, you know, proficient when we go in there. So. Well, there is that part. Yeah. We'd like to know what we're doing. Yes. Yes. The, well, part of it is, and again, you do a lot of it. I mean, that's one of the things that, it's kind of different that a lot of people might not realize, but you train groups, organizations. I mean, basically you're providing them with educational information on how to recognize and how to help with certain situations. Exactly. Yes. I'm thinking in particular of our Narcan training, of course. You know, we teach how to use it, how to, why you use it, how to take care of that person after that you've administered it. There's a whole bunch of things involved in that training. So there are, there are organizations that just train you how to use the train, the Narcan that don't do the things around it. So we do that. So we do that training. We really encourage people to do it because as everyone knows, opioid overdose is an issue. We're going to be celebrating that. If you want to use celebrating at the end of the month, coming up the end of the month over names. Yeah. Yeah. But we also do other kinds of things. One thing that we just recently finished doing at Ericsson Public Library, it's a four-part series. Mm-hmm. We did that last week, I think it was, and overall, it was a real success. The last one that we did, Understanding Addiction and Recovery, we did, that one went over really well. So we're going to start actually doing that one quarterly. So we're going to have one in September, December, something like that, yeah. Every few months. Every few months. The first one will be September 1st. Okay. Really that one topic? Yeah, that one topic. It is just, there might be more coming, but that one for sure is what we're going to be doing quarterly because it is very specific population. It is for people who have someone who is in recovery or need to go into recovery and they want to be that kind of support system for them. It also helps just the general public understand exactly what addiction is. So it's a little bit of a different population than the other people, the other trainings that we have. And over the course of the four-part series, it became pretty clear that that was something that was needed here in the county. So we're going to move forward with that. A lot of that is, you know, people talk about it, hear about it and stuff, but getting the actual facts. Exactly. And that presented to them. To understand that each one is a little different. Exactly. It's not always the same. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. That one's always, it's really, really dense. It's a lot of information, but we can kind of, you know, work through the weeds and get to like the really good stuff in the middle. Get the highlights. Yeah. So. Well, in part of it is, you know, when you're teaching, like teaching how to use an ARC hat. Well, you'd like to kind of have an idea of, you know, okay, now, how do I recognize if someone's having an ARC hat or how do I know that? So you need to know. Yeah. This is going to be one of those things. Yeah. Here's where you can learn. Yeah. This person might be doing something like that and might need to have that assistance. Yeah. And one of the key, from my view, one of the key components of this training is convincing people that Narcan is not going to hurt anybody. So it only works if there's an opioid in somebody's system and it will not hurt anybody else if it's given and it's not the thing that is causing the overdose, it's not going to hurt anything. It's not going to help, but it's not going to hurt either. So I think that is one of the things that people, that make people a little nervous about using it. Yeah. Well, yeah. Are you sure that's what it is in overdose or maybe they're having a reaction to something else? Yes. It's not going to hurt. Yeah. And there are very specific symptoms of an opioid overdose. Very specific. And you learn those. And you learn those. Yeah. You have to. And then each one, like I said, each one's a little different. Yep. Yep. That might have different kinds of symptoms or things that are showing up for them too. Yeah. So again, let's talk a little bit about your awareness day that is coming up. Now it's going to be over in Ames and you had touched on this last time when we visited. We didn't have all the particulars at the time, but we knew it was going to be in Ames at the Manchel Park. Yes. So this is overdose awareness day. Yep. International overdose awareness day. There are communities all over the world, essentially, that are hosting these days just to raise awareness of the opioid crisis, of the rate of opioid overdose in the world. And it's astronomical. So we want to get the, we want to get that recognition is that this is ways that we can do that is to host these types of events. So we're doing ours in Ames. It is 10 to 12 on the 29th at Manchel Park. We have, I think, 15 vendors that are coming. The YSS Hidden in Plain Sight trailer will be there. Okay. CFR, of course, will be there. You have the list in front of you, I don't have the actual list. And one of them that I've visited with some time ago, but YSS Suicide Prevention is going to be there. And again, yeah, we got, there's a host of them. There's a bunch, you got a bunch of Lotus Foundation, of course, teams up with you guys for this. Yes. Yes. Again, a great opportunity. Wings of Refuge will be there. Yeah. There's a whole bunch. Yeah. And again, that's going to be on the 29th Manchel Park in what, just 10 till noon. So not too difficult to come in, take some time and go around to the different vendors and see what they've got. Yeah. Yeah. It's going to be a fabulous event. I love those kinds of events because there's so much networking that can come from that. And the more people that can be on task with this, it's good. It's better. We are also doing two things prior to that, leading up to that. And that is on August 19th. We are doing a viewing of the PBS Nova Documentary Addiction. It's about 58 minutes. And then after that, we're going to have a Q&A. I'll be hosting that to see, you know, how do you feel? Do you have any questions? You know, do you want to share anything with us, so on and so forth. And then the following week, the 26th, I believe it is, we're hosting a stigma presentation again at the Ames Public Library. All of that stuff is on their event page, or you can contact me, anybody can contact me at that question. So this will be presented over in Ames, but people are welcome. Yeah. Absolutely. Yeah. If you want to find out more, it's a stigma, a big part. We, you know, we keep coming back to that so many times, but people still have that stigma. Well, if I go to this, people are going to think, oh, it's not, you know, no, I'm not opiate. Yeah. But do I know somebody that is, that's the, you know, thing, and that's still, we still have that challenge. Yeah. We do. And, you know, I think we're making headway. I really do. It's just, we would like to make more headway, so, but then on the flip side, if we make more headway, then what am I going to teach? Well, there's always new stuff coming out. I'm sorry. But yeah, that's not going to go away. I'm sorry. You're going to have more to teach. I will always be busy. Can I mention one more thing that's happening at the Ericsson Public Library? Yes. So starting in September, we're actually joining forces with some other local organizations. And we're going to do a second Monday. Nope. Yep. Second Monday of every month. Okay. We're going to have local organizations all together at the Ericsson Public Library. Historically, it's been, we each go individually. Okay. So we have our own office hour, but we're going to start joining, get everybody together, and then taking turns, and so that's going to start September 14th. If local organizations have not heard about that, please contact me or Tammy Troup at the Ericsson Public Library. She is on, I think, vacation this week, so she's not available this week, but I am. So just give me a shout out, and we can get you on the list. And again, it starts September 14th. We're very excited about it. Put several together, and again, offer an opportunity for a lot of the human service. Again, this is part of what we have. We have a good human service council. Yes. So how do you keep that communication going to the public? Yes. Yes. Those are some of the changes. You may have to hit a few other libraries, too. Yes. Yes. You have to go over to Ogden down the ladder, too. Yes. Let them know what's happening. Yes. So they can go up to both Madrid and Ogden libraries. And so I will be spreading the wealth over there, too. She's going all over the place. You have, at least, community and family resources if they have missed out or don't realize it, but you have some new help on the psychiatric side. Yes. Brandy Straun has joined the team. Yes, absolutely. So Brandy is a psychiatric nurse practitioner. She's been in the field about 20 years, around 20 years. And she's going to be helping us with comprehensive psychiatric evaluations, medication management, and individualized treatment planning. And she'll be specifically in Boone on Wednesdays. She's in Ames on Tuesdays and Fridays. And so if somebody in Boone would like to set up an appointment with her, they would call the Boone CFR office to get in touch with scheduling for Brandy. Got it. Yeah. She's pretty amazing. I've met her a time or two. She's pretty awesome. Well, and that's one of those, too, where we know that on the psychiatric side, otherwise you have more often than not, you had to do telehealth. But having someone in person seems to give you that connection. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. It really does. Yeah. And I'm guessing you're keeping her busy, though. Yes. I imagine so. Yes. Yeah. Again, just getting started here in the mid-part of July. Yeah. Just joining the team. Anyway, once again, you'd have to, again, for a Boone appointment, you'd have to call the local office. I don't know. If you call the Ames office, they'll just transfer you. They'll get you set up, too. And yes, remember now, the offices for CFR are now located in the Human Service Building, where Veterans Affairs is located now, and that's right on Mamie. Right on Mamie. Yeah. That's where we're at. All right. So it's, again, there's just a number of things going on. So over the summer months, so you've been doing a lot of training. So what really are some of the new things that you've been learning about that you think this is really a nice program? Yes. Well, I think we were very diligent when we chose our programming. We had a specific audience in mind, and we based the choices that we made on the community assessment needs and conversations that we've had with several people. So we're going to be working more with youth, especially in Boone County. We're going to be working on a problem gambling, which is, we call it, it's stacked deck curriculum, and it is four lessons, and it just walks through how do you recognize what gambling is, how, you know, can you ever win when you're gambling, so on and so forth. Very, very good lessons to help people, especially of the younger persuasion, to recognize that what you might traditionally think is gambling is not. It's much more involved than that. We are also doing a vaping program. It's called You and Me Vape Free, and it's through Stanford Medicine, the Reach Lab over there. I'm really excited about this, because we did this programming in Gilbert last year, and the kids were so engaged. We did fifth grade. The kids were so engaged, and they were also very enraged. It's like, why is this a thing? They wanted to take action. They wanted to do things. So I'm really excited to get that one up and going, because ultimately what we would like to do is have an I-Step program here in Boone County. But we need kids to do that, so we would really like to progress to that. What else are we doing? Okay, so again, those are the kinds of things that we know, again, once you get into the school and have an opportunity to do some of those things. Yeah, absolutely. We always want to partner with the community, always, like law enforcement, the public schools, the libraries. We always want to partner with people who we can help and who can help us. I keep saying, you know, Renja's the prevention specialist, but part of it is the education. What do we need to prevent? What are some of the issues that we're constantly seeing? And they do change. Yeah, absolutely. I mean, we see it a lot. We have specific people who follow the legislation. I'm not really one that does that, because I kind of get mad when I start following the legislation. I don't know who's that. But I kind of need to know it because of, you know, people ask those questions. So we try to be as involved as possible. We try to keep up on the latest and most up and forthcoming evidence and research and things like that. So... Keep working that. It's never going to be done. If it was easy, you know what? And then we go right from August, we're going to hit September, which is recovery. Yep. And then... Recovery awareness. Also, it's National Suicide Prevention Month. So... We got a lot. We got a lot. A lot of different things to talk about. I know that you did mention one of the things, a lot of the things that you looked at, or not just you, but CFR as a team, because I'm guessing you're doing it here, but also it's happening up in Fort Dodge and Hamilton County and your other sources. Yeah. Yeah. Some of our programs vary just a bit, but in general, we've got pretty much the same activities and trainings. I know you mentioned the Community Needs Assessment Course. That was something the hospital had done, and that does show a lot of different things. Again, the high priority items are the one, two, three. Mental health, by the way, is still one of the high, top ones, and has kind of taken over that top spot for a while. Significantly. Yeah. Now, we also have cancer coming up there, too. Yeah. Make it a rebound. Yep. Yep. We really didn't need that, but it's there. Yeah. Yeah. Unfortunately. Yep. Yeah. So, we do have, again, coming up August 29th, it's over in Ames at the Banchel Park. It's the Overdose Awareness Day. Again, simply 10 in the morning until noon. That's going to be on the 29th, Saturday the 29th. All you got to do is show up. Mm-hmm. A lot of vendors, a lot of different participants there for this, and just go around, learn what they're talking about, what's available, the information that's available. Yeah. Also, bring a bag, because there's going to be a lot of good swag. Oh, there will be a lot of swag. Yeah. Good swag and a lot of good resources out there. We got that, too. Yeah. So, again, for those that might need some assistance or want to find out more about getting assistance from Brandy Strahan, who is a psychiatric mental health nurse practitioner, now working with CFR, Wednesdays in Boone County, and Tuesday, Friday, yeah, I think you said Tuesday and Friday. Yeah, Tuesdays and Fridays. Tuesdays and Fridays over in Story County, but make contact with CFR if you need information about that. Yeah. Whatever office you call, they'll be able to get you to where you need to be. So. And your next activity coming up, really, the 19th, actually, you got 19th and 26th. These are at the Ames Library, right? Right, yeah. It's the viewing of the addiction documentary with a Q&A to follow, and then the next week is the stigma presentation at the library. Check the Ames Library website. Yep. You need information about that? Yep. Alrighty. Wow. Keep busy. Yeah. Always. So next time we visit, school's going to be back in session, I don't know, maybe you'll start to make some contact with some of the different classes, different things that are going on in different schools. And you're doing all of them, Boone? All of Boone. All of Boone County. Yeah. Thanks so much for coming in. Yeah, absolutely. Thanks for having me. It's a busy, keeps you busy out there, doesn't it? Ren De Terrell, our guest on our program today, Community and Family Resources, remember the office is located in our human service building. And you can always make contact, just be Terrell, right? Brenda T. Brenda T. At CFR Helps. I don't want to make it easier, because don't get thrown by her spelling on her last name. Brenda T. At CFR Helps. Yeah. That's exactly right. Thanks for coming in. Yeah, thank you.
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