The Eau Claire City-Community Health Department and the Alliance for Substance Misuse Prevention recently hosted an opioid workshop and related online survey. | Donald Clark/Pixabay
The Eau Claire City-Community Health Department and the Alliance for Substance Misuse Prevention recently hosted an opioid workshop and related online survey. | Donald Clark/Pixabay
The Eau Claire City-Community Health Department is promoting education as the solution to the state’s growing drug use.
A new survey released by local government officials has focused on opioid use and overdose prevention, opening the door for residents to share their experiences and thoughts on the current opioid epidemic.
"Everyone can see a benefit from it because more of our resources will be utilized and the word can get out,” public health nurse Chelsie Smith told WQOW recently. “People will have more awareness of what opioids are, what an overdose looks like, and how to help somebody because an overdose can happen anywhere.”
Drug-overdose deaths in Wisconsin rose by 13% last year, the WQOW report said. And during the six-year period ending in 2020, opioid deaths in Eau Claire County more than doubled.
The Alliance for Substance Misuse Prevention teamed up with the health department to host an opioid workshop on July 11, the report said. A related survey, which closes on July 24, can be found online at surveymonkey.com/r/LG2HVYH.
The stated goal of the survey is to better understand the public's knowledge of drug use, then use the collected information to craft useful educational programs and events.
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