I am a member of the Rochelle Rotary Club and recently a fellow Rotarian gave the club a presentation about how the opioid epidemic affecting our country.
Dr. John Prabhakar gave a talk on how the epidemic has grown and how people like you and me can help fight it.
The Centers for Disease Control posted that there were 70,000 drug overdose deaths in the United States during their last reporting year. Of those, 48,000 deaths were opioid overdoses.
Nearly 50,000 lives lost, many of them in the prime of their lives, some just starting their road to adulthood. They left behind parents, grandparents, children, spouses, friends and co-workers.
Rochelle Fire Department Chief Dave Sawlsville was also at the meeting, and when I asked about numbers for Rochelle, he estimated the ambulance responds to about five overdoses per month. Mark Batty, CEO of Rochelle Community Hospital, estimated more than that are seen in the local emergency room because often overdose patients are driven to the hospital by private car instead of by ambulance.
Many of the drugs are brought into the area, but not all the drugs come from another city. Some come from the medicine cabinets of local people.
Often times when a doctor prescribes a pain medication, the prescription is for 30 or more pills. If the person doesn’t need that many, the pills may end up in a medicine chest or tucked away on a shelf for someone, anyone, to find.
Dr. Prabhakar had a couple of suggestions.
One is to dispose of unused medication. There are drop off sites at Rochelle Community Hospital and at the Rochelle Police Department. He suggested scratching your name off the label and then disposing of the pills when done.
He also said people could dispose of the unwanted opioids by mixing them with a foul substance, such as used kitty litter, then placing the mix in a sealed container and putting it in the trash.

He suggested not keeping them with other medications but finding a secret spot to store them while they are being used.
Throwing them down the toilet is not recommended.
Some pharmacies are issuing an opioid disposal kit when a prescription for one is dispensed. People can follow the directions on the package to safely dispose of unwanted doses.
Cutting down on the number of pills prescribed is also a way to cut down on the opioids in circulation. Again, some pharmacies will limit the number dispensed despite the prescribed number.
We all have seen the stories about overdoses. Parents passed out in a car with kids in the backseat, people living in filth and squalor while their children are forgotten and hungry.
It is a national disgrace.
If you know someone who is addicted, get them help. You may save their life. And get rid of those pills in a safe manner.

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If you are not outraged by the news this week, you should be.
Bombs were sent to former presidents and people who have been critical of the current administration.

This act of domestic terrorism needs to be prosecuted to the fullest.
Violence is not the answer to any problem, political or nonpolitical. Our leaders should be speaking out and condemning violence, whether aimed at a Republicans or Democrats.  
The cowardice of people like this makes my blood boil.  
They can’t be caught soon enough or punished severely enough.

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It saddened me to read about the off-duty officer who was involved in a deadly car accident. His blood alcohol level was more than three times the limit.
We all have a duty to prevent friends and relatives from driving while impaired. That may not be always easily done, but lives depend on it.
With the holidays approaching, alcohol consumption will probably increase for many of us. If we can’t on our own stay off the road while impaired, our friends and family should step in.

Terry Dickow is a retired elementary school teacher with lots of opinions, some you will like, some of you won’t.  He can be contacted at terrydickow@gmail.com