June 2018 - Parks & Recreation - 46

OPIOID CRISIS

overall health and well-being, it's
not surprising that many park and
recreation agencies are working in
concert with law enforcement, public health organizations and school
districts to meet this pervasive epidemic head-on. Through these
partnerships, they can focus not
only on those drug-afflicted, but
also on the families forced to cope
with the traumatic effects caused
by this devastating disease.
Should the parent(s) succumb to
this disease, for any children left behind, it could mean either being sent
to live with other relatives, such as a
grandparent, or being placed in foster
care. And, even if parents have not
succumbed, they risk a different type
of loss: their parental rights. The U.S.
Department of Health and Human
Services reports that among the total 274,000 children who entered the
foster care system in 2016, 92,000 (or
one-third) of those cases involved parents addicted to drugs - the highest
in more than three decades.

Standing on the Front Lines
Park and recreation agencies are
not immune to this growing crisis,

PHOTO COURTESY OF COUNTY OF LOS ANGELES DEPARTMENT OF PARKS AND RECREATION

" I think this one is going to stick
with me a little more, " Sharon Police officer Andrew O'Shall told a
WKBN-NBC4 reporter. " Just the
fact that it was a 5-year-old that
watched his parents overdose in
front of him and could have potentially died had he not called. "
Unfortunately, this type of traumatic event is becoming all too common for children living in cities and
towns across the United States. Drug
endangered children, as defined by
the National Alliance for Drug Endangered Children, are those " who
are at risk of suffering physical or
emotional harm as a result of illegal
drug use, possession, manufacturing, cultivation or distribution. They
may also be children whose caretaker's substance misuse interferes with
the caretaker's ability to parent and
provide a safe and nurturing environment. " In some instances, these
children - in the absence of their
parent - take on the role of primary
caregiver to their younger siblings.
Because park professionals strive
to provide community members
with the best possible resources and services to enhance their

Parks & Recreation

especially when addicts use drugs
in parks and other public spaces.
In fact, the Cleveland Metroparks
Ranger Department, headquartered
in Fairview Park, Ohio, has witnessed it firsthand and began noticing an increase in drug offenses back
in 2013. Jacqueline Gerling, director
of communications at Cleveland
Metroparks, says the Ranger Department, which serves as the law
enforcement arm of Cleveland Metroparks, prosecuted 278 drug offenses in 2017 and 274 in 2016.
" No persons or communities (including park districts) are exempt
from the effects of the opioid epidemic. Rural communities, suburbs and inner cities all have experienced the crisis, " she says.
Shelly Strasser, director of
the West Allis-West Milwaukee
(WAWM) Recreation & Community Services Department in Wisconsin, says her agency has been made
aware of the rise in the number of
substance-abuse cases. She explains
it's " due to the fact that our fire department has started tracking various drug-overdose calls [using] an
interactive map. They're doing this
in an effort to help the community
understand the growing problem
that we have. " In the community of
West Allis, there were 32 fatal drug
overdoses in 2016 and 28 in 2015.
" Beginning in mid-2016, " says
Gerling, ranger personnel have been
equipped with Narcan (Naloxone).
As a result, " 14 overdosed persons
have been successfully revived by
rangers and around 30 revivals by
area EMS/fire departments have
occurred within Cleveland Met-

One of many Parks After Dark events in
Los Angeles County, a program designed
for underserved communities with fewer
resources to encourage recreation and
social engagement.

| J U N E 2 0 1 8 | W W W. PA R K S A N D R E C R E AT I O N . O R G

June 2018 - Parks & Recreation

Table of Contents for the Digital Edition of June 2018 - Parks & Recreation