Pubdate: Thu, 15 Jan 2004 Source: Mountain Times, The (NC) Copyright: 2004 The Mountain Times. Contact: P.O. Box 1815, Boone, NC 28607 Website: http://www.mountaintimes.com Details: http://www.mapinc.org/media/1699 Author: Kathleen McFadden Note: Does not accept LTEs via email or feedback form. All LTEs must be mailed. Bookmark: http://www.mapinc.org/meth.htm (Methamphetamine) METH GROUP RECEIVES GRANT, DONATIONS, INQUIRIES The good news outweighed the bad at January's methamphetamine task force meeting as the community action group continued its work of identifying the impact and seeking solutions to the problems of meth production in the county. Department of Social Services (DSS) child protection worker Chad Slagle, de facto chair of the group, announced that DSS had finally received the long-anticipated official notification of its Drug-Endangered Child grant award to Watauga County. The grant allocates more than $35,000 to DSS to pay for meth-affected children's medical expenses and the replacement of their clothing and personal effects. Money is also available, Slagle said, for attendance at a training conference, as well as a computer, digital camera and cell phones. The grant also allocates a similar sum to the Watauga County Sheriff's Office for the payment of overtime and for a camera and laptop to be used as documentation tools. As conditions of the grant, Slagle said, task force members needed to agree to change the group name to the Watauga County DEC (Drug-Endangered Child) Program, commit to making presentations at conferences and participate in data collection efforts. "We are one of only two counties in the eastern United States that will have DEC programs," Slagle said. DEC Program member Ann Brown of Watauga Medical Center announced that the hospital had also received a grant - a total of $41,000 that will be used to construct a negative pressure isolation room adjacent to the decontamination area and to purchase and install a continuous heating water heater for the outside decontamination area. Once the room is constructed, Brown said, meth-contaminated persons will be taken directly from the ambulance bay into isolation. In other good news, Slagle reported that the High Country Honda-sponsored Project Elf Christmas program was so successful in soliciting clothes, toys and other gifts that the bounty exceeded the needs of the meth-affected children who inspired the project idea. There was so much stuff, Slagle said, that in addition to the meth-affected kids, foster children, treatment cases and even children involved in open investigation received "boxes of toys and clothes." In all, Slagle said, Project Elf touched 76 children. He also acknowledged the generous donation from Holy Communion Lutheran Church in Banner Elk of $700 in Walmart gift cards. The church held a special fundraiser to assist DSS efforts with replacing the personal effects of children whose clothes, bedding, toys and other belongings are contaminated by an in-home meth lab. Slagle told the group that he has been receiving increasing numbers of requests from agencies in other counties asking him to provide training sessions on how to set up a meth response team, but that his schedule is too tight to allow the travel and out-of-office days that such training would involve. During discussion, group members suggested that DSS coordinate with the health department, the response team and the DSS Directors' Association to develop an in-county training session that out-of-towners will be invited to attend. And it's not just social service agencies that are interested in the group's work. Subsequent to last Friday's meeting, Slagle sent a notice to all task force members announcing that an Associated Press reporter is interested in talking to task force members for a story on meth labs and children. The group approved a revised draft medical protocol for children found in homes with meth labs. Slagle will present the suggested protocol to a meeting of Watauga Medical Center emergency room doctors. The task force developed the draft medical protocol to fill the vacuum created by the state's failure to issue guidelines or directives. Other discussion focused on a recent arrest in which a 17-year-old was found with an adult in a vehicle loaded with the precursor chemicals used to produce meth. The matter under consideration - involving a host of legal and privacy issues - was whether the minor should be medically tested since no active meth lab was discovered. Task force members also watched a video about meth problems in California provided by Sheriff Mark Shook. The next Watauga County DEC Program meeting is scheduled for 1:00 to 3:00 p.m. February 6, in the upstairs conference room at the human services building on Poplar Grove Connector. - --- MAP posted-by: Larry Seguin