Community

Opioids: Turning the Tide in the Crisis

00000174-c556-d691-a376-cdd69e980000Day after day, week after week, the headlines in Northeast Ohio and across much of the country contain news of tragic loss: lives lost to opioids. It’s a problem that knows no bounds: geography, race, gender, level of education or income.The problem took on new urgency this summer as the powerful elephant sedative, Carfentanil, began hitting the streets. First responders armed with their only weapon, the overdose antidote Naloxone, have struggled to keep up with what’s become an overwhelming problem. It’s an issue that’s straining public and social resources. What has become clear is that business as usual is not going to fix the problem.WKSU news has been covering the unfolding crisis. Tuesdays during Morning Edition, the WKSU news team digs even deeper. WKSU reporters will examine what’s led us here and what might be done to turn the tide. Support for Opioids: Turning the Tide in the Crisis comes from Wayne Savings Community Bank, Kent State University Office of Continuing and Distance Education, Hometown Grocery Delivery, Mercy Medical Center, AxessPointe Community Health Center, Community Support Services, Inc., Medina County District Library and Hudson Community First.00000174-c556-d691-a376-cdd69e980001

Your Voice Mahoning Valley: This is About the People

Ideastream Public Media | By Doug Oplinger

Published October 9, 2017 at 7:08 AM EDT

Your Voice Mahoning Valley grows from a belief that the people are not being heard and that solutions to problems they face are not receiving adequate attention. The project is part of a statewide effort begun in late 2015 as Ohio news organizations worked together, experimenting with new ways to represent the people of Ohio in the 2016 election.

Backed by research conducted by the Jefferson Center, a non-partisan civic research organization in St. Paul, and polling by the Bliss Institute of Applied Politics at the University of Akron, the news organizations, led by the Akron Beacon Journal, developed a working model for listening to Ohioans and joining with the public in working toward solutions.

The Your Voice Ohio media project has selected the Mahoning Valley as a test site to work closely with citizens in identifying solutions to the heroin epidemic. What the people decide here will be used as a model for other news outlets to tackle the crisis statewide, and then launch conversations about the economy.

In the Mahoning Valley, participants are WFMJ-TV, The Vindicator, the Warren Tribune Chronicle and WKSU. To see more on the statewide news partners and the project, go to www.yourvoiceohio.org.

Doug Oplinger is director and editor for the Your Voice Ohio statewide media project and can be contacted at doplinger@yourvoiceohio.org