Currently On Prevention WV: Foster Care in WV

Nearly half a million children are in foster care in the United States. May is National Foster Care Month. On the current edition of Prevention WV, guests Carrie Robey (Mission WV) and Nate Emch (Adoptive and Foster Parent in Charleston) discuss foster care in West Virginia. Additional information about the Prevention WV television show, including show times and channels, is available at PrevNET.org.

Substance Abuse Costs WV’s Education System More Than $13 Million

More than $13 million of West Virginia’s education system budget was consumed to provide drug and alcohol related prevention and treatment services in 2009, according to a new report released this month by the WV Partnership to Promote Community Well-Being and the WV Prevention Resource Center.

“The Financial Burden of Substance Abuse in West Virginia: The Education System” examines the impact of drug and alcohol use on West Virginia’s education system including elementary, secondary and institutions of higher learning. It is the third in a series of reports examining the cost of drug and alcohol use in WV. A comprehensive report, incorporating estimates from criminal justice, health care, education, child welfare, and workforce systems, will be produced at the end of the project, and all reports will be updated annually. The reports are part of a larger Family Funding Study project, which is funded with U.S. Office of Juvenile Justice and Delinquency Prevention Block Grant money administered by the WV Division of Criminal Justice (DCJS).

“Substance abuse issues, unfortunately, are a challenge to learning environments,” said Don Chapman, Assistant Director of the WV Department of Education’s Office of Healthy Schools and member of the WV Partnership to Promote Community Well-Being. “In addition to educating our state’s children, we must keep them safe and healthy.”

The WV Partnership to Promote Community Well-Being, created by Executive Order 8-04, is WV’s Governor-appointed substance abuse prevention and early intervention planning body. The Governor and the WV Partnership released a comprehensive, strategic plan for addressing substance abuse at a drug summit this past November. This latest funding study report was produced the WV Prevention Resource Center, which staffs the WV Partnership and provides support for WV’s community prevention efforts. The WVPRC is an affiliate of Marshall University and funded through various grants including a federal Substance Abuse Prevention & Treatment Block Grant administered through the WV DHHR's Bureau for Behavioral Health and Health Facilities and a federal Strategic Prevention Framework State Incentive Grant and the Governor’s Drug Free WV Grants administered through the WV Division of Criminal Justice Services.

Additional information about the WV Partnership, the WVPRC, and the Funding Study project is available at www.PrevNET.org.

April Health Observances

According to the National Health Information Center, April 2010 is:
•Alcohol Awareness Month
•Foot Health Awareness Month
•Irritable Bowel Syndrome Awareness Month
•National Autism Awareness Month
WV RESOURCE: Autism Training Center
•National Cancer Control Month
WV RESOURCE: WV Comprehensive Cancer Program
•National Child Abuse Prevention Month
WV RESOURCE: WVDHHR; Prevent Child Abuse WV
•National Donate Life Month
•National Facial Protection Month
•National Minority Health Awareness Month
•National Sarcoidosis Awareness Month
•National Youth Sports Safety Month
•Sexual Assault Awareness and Prevention Month
WV RESOURCE: WV Foundation for Rape Information and Service
•Sexual Assault Awareness Month Day of Action (April 8)
•Sports Eye Safety Month
•Women’s Eye Health and Safety Month
•National Public Health Week (April 5-11)
•World Health Day (April 7)
•National Alcohol Screening Day (April 8)
•National Infant Immunization Week (April 24 - May 1)
WV RESOURCE: WV Immunization Program
•March for Babies April (24 & 25)
WV RESOURCE: March of Dimes – WV Chapter
•World Meningitis Day (April 24)