Education vs. Epidemic: When parents use, kids often drag the burden to class

Public media organizations combine to raise awareness, reduce stigma of opioid addiction

• Keira McGuire
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  Keira McGuire is a health reporter and multimedia producer for WITF. She hosts and produces Transforming Health television programs as well as other shows and documentaries for WITF’s Original Productions. McGuire produced the Emmy Award winning series HealthSmart for the last ten years. Keira previously worked at WBFF in Baltimore and WMDT in Salisbury as a reporter and anchor. She’s a graduate of Towson University.

“Battling Opioids: A Program of Pennsylvania Public Media” is a coordinated effort this week to underscore the magnitude of the opioid epidemic in the commonwealth. In January, Gov. Tom Wolf declared Pennsylvania’s opioid addiction epidemic a disaster emergency.

WITF joins other public media organizations across the state in presenting programming to raise awareness and reduce the stigma related to opioid addiction. WITF will broadcast our HealthSmart series focusing on opioid coverage throughout the week and online.

The culminating feature of the week is “Battling Opioids: A Program of Pennsylvania Public Media,” which airs at 8 p.m. on Pennsylvania public broadcast television stations. The program features voices from across the state talking about their struggles through opioid addiction and how it has affected people around them, and it offers hope for people to fight through those challenges.

More information on the project as well as information on how to get help is available at battlingopioids.org.

Watch: Education vs. Epidemic

More than 115 people die in the United States every day from an opioid overdose. In Pennsylvania, the ripple effect from this national public health emergency has reached our schools. Many now stock Naloxone, the opioid overdose reversal drug. Some conduct random drug testing to deter students from using. But teachers say their main concern is students who have parents struggling with opioid addiction.

The National Institute on Drug Abuse reports an estimated 25 percent of American kids are growing up in households where substance abuse is present. For some of them, school is the only place that is safe and free from chaos. But the issues follow children to school: Educators say what goes on in class is not a priority for children worried about a parent’s opioid addiction.