SCRATCH Meeting Minutes

March 11, 2015

Welcome and Introductions

Old Business

Meeting with Congressman Lobiondo Cory, Beth, and Gloria attended the meeting with Congressman Lobiondo and his aide. The meeting was

about 15 minutes long, but a lot was accomplished in those 15 minutes. A SCRATCH packet was given to the

Congressman Lobiondo, acknowledging the achievements that SCRATCH has made over the years. The

Congressman was very impressed with SCRATCH’s accomplishments. Congressman Lobiondo extended an

invitation to SCRATCH to participate in upcoming speaking events. The congressman’s aide stated that the

congressman had worked with the SWC about 7 years ago, so he is familiar with the agency and the coalition.

His aide also mentioned that he had seen The Southwest Council billboards about the dangers of legalizing

marijuana. This is the 3rd

meeting with local politicians that Cory and SCRATCH members have attended.

Pennsville Guidance and Nursing In-service Presentation

Don Palmucci from Pennsville School District invited Cory to speak at an upcoming inservice day for

nurses and guidance counselors. About 12 guidance counselors and nurses attended the presentation. Cory

presented about marijuana along with a brief presentation about the SCRATCH Coalition. The presentation was

well received. A survey about the marijuana presentation for data collection was given to the attendees. Kristen

Sacova, a member of the SCRATCH coalition, has been helpful with scheduling Cory to present at Drug Court in

Bridgeton. Cory will be going back to Drug Court about every four months to present. If any members hear of any

opportunities with school districts or the community to present, please contact Cory.

Funeral Home Policy Project Update

An article titled “Funeral Homes Lead Drug Efforts” made the front page of the South Jersey Times

Gloucester County edition on March 2nd. Also listed in the article were drop box locations for Gloucester and

Camden counties. Several funeral home directors were interviewed along with Cory about the funeral homes

taking on a new approach to help educate the community on proper disposal of prescription medication. Efforts

are still ongoing. Currently 12 out of about 30 funeral homes participated throughout the region. SCRATCH is

satisfied with the success thus far. Great progress has been made in the last 3 months. Cory followed up with a

letter to the editor naming the funeral homes that are joining in the effort. We can now use this information to

encourage other funeral homes to participate in this project.

Salem County Chamber of Commerce Mixer

Gloria and Cory were slated to attend a Salem County Chamber of Commerce mixer event in February,

but due to illness were unable to attend. They will be attending a similar event March 20 instead.

Prom Initiatives The Coalition is making great strides with the prom initiative. As prom season is fast approaching

SCRATCH would like to get the word out to parents about the Parents Who Host Lose the Most campaign. Last

year SCRATCH made great efforts to distribute the informational cards in Salem/Cumberland counties to make

parents aware of the penalties of hosting underage drinking parties. SCRATCH has started a new initiative with

the community targeting Pennsville Memorial High School. The Parents Who Host Lose the Most cards will be

sent out to all students through the school. One the back of the card will be a link to a survey with the key

informant interview questions about underage drinking. In exchange for parents completing the survey, they can

enter their child in a drawing to win a free tux, hair style, boutonniere or corsage. The Pennsville Memorial High

School principal agreed to circulate the prom card. Pennsville community businesses have also agreed to donate

flowers, hair styles, and a tuxedo. The drawing will be held about one month before the prom. This is a way to get

the information out to parents and to collect data at the same time. Pennsville High School will participate and

Ford Flower Shop in Pennsville will participate, donating a boutonniere and a corsage. We are also looking to get

a hair style and tuxedo donated. Cory is also talking with Jim’s Formalwear for a tux rental.

Coalition members also added that maybe we could get in contact with religious leaders such as Pastor

Ben Ocascio at Rock of Salvation Church to get some information put on radio shows about the dangers of

underage drinking.

Health Week at Cumberland County College Jessica from CCHCC has been collaborating with the Director of Student Activities at the Cumberland

County College, along with SCRATCH and the Cumberland County Prosecutor’s Office. The CCHCC was

planning on participating in their health week by doing presentations about prescription drug abuse. Due to low

participation from college professors, the CCHCC was unable to do the presentations during health week, but will

participate in Spring Fling in the spring. SCRATCH will also be tabling at the event.

Prescription Monitoring Program Training The coalition, along with Inspira and the Cumberland County Prosecutor’s Office, is planning a training

about the NJ Prescription Monitoring Program April 21 at the Cumberland County College. Cory was approached

by a Coordinator for Nurses with Inspira at a recent meeting saying that she could coordinate continuing

education credits for nurses. The flyer was updated to include the education credits for nurses. An updated flyer

was passed out to members with the updated information about the program offering 1 CE for nurses and one

AMA PRA Category 1 credit for physicians. The updated flyer will emailed to all members. Theo from Inspira

sent the flyer out to office managers at Inspira.

PRIDE Outreach This year middle schools will be targeted for the PRIDE survey. Three weeks ago Cory sent out the

PRIDE survey packets to principals of all middle schools in Salem County. It’s important to get approval before

the summer break.Ideally, permission slips will get sent out in the back to school packet. The main obstables of

administering the PRIDE survey in the past have been getting permission from the principals and getting parental

consent for students to participate. Cory has not heard anything back from schools from the initial mailing thus

far. The next step is to send a packet about the PRIDE survey to guidance counselors and SAC counselors and

contact school-based programs. Even though is not written into the SCRATCH grant that we administer the

survey, it is valuable data to prove that programs are needed.

Key Informant Interviews Members of the coalition have been asked to repeat the task of performing key informant interviews about

every four months. Alice used her pastor as her key informant. She found his responses interesting. Cory

explained to members that anyone that works or lives within the community can be a key informant and

interviewed. Cory will be attending Drug Court on Friday in Bridgeton to conduct a listening session and to give

the key informant questionnaire aloud. Another call will sent out to members to conduct another call for key

informant interviews. Cory thanked all members for their participation and their submissions thus far.

New Business Getting to know SCRATCH Members: Beth Thomas, Cumberland County Health Department

Beth spoke about what the County Health Department offers to families in the community. Beth deals

with Special Child health services from the ages birth to 21. The agency also has a hearing aid program,

prescription and pulmonary programs. Even children who are not citizens can benefit from some of the programs.

The department received a grant to reach out to families that have been affected by Super Storm Sandy. Beth

handed out booklets and brochures to members. The grant will be ending in June. Cory offered to hand out

information for the health department at upcoming health fairs and events.

Meeting with Assemblyman Andrzejczak

The meeting has been rescheduled for Tuesday March 17th in the Cape May Courthouse. This meeting is

part of a continued effort by the coalition to get better known with stakeholders in the region. Meetings with

legislators are brief, about 15 minutes, and a great opportunity to share all of our efforts and successes. Members

are asked to email Cory if they are interested in attending the meeting.

SHOP questionnaire and PFS Gloria asked members to again have the seniors take the prescription drug survey. She also handed out

posters on how to properly dispose of unwanted prescription medications. She is in the process of planning a

military conference in the summer. She will update us on developments with the conference at the next meeting.

Gloria thanked members for their participation in the prescription drug survey.

Member Roundtable Theodora Isekenegbe (Inspira): Theo passed out flyers for upcoming focus groups in Salem, Cumberland and

Gloucester Counties. The goal is to have as many community members attend as possible.

Jessica Kanady (The Southwest Council): Millville is getting a prescription drug box and Carney’s Point is on

the waiting list to receive their drop box.

Chelsea Welch (City of Vineland Health Department): Home Depot is hosting its annual car show on June 20th

from 11am to 2pm. Contact Chelsea at cwelch@vinelandcity.org to be put in contact with Home Depot about

tabling at the event.