By Mark Hansel
NKyTribune managing editor
A crowd of more than 100 attended a Heroin Town Hall meeting at Crossroads Church in Florence Monday night.
The event, organized by the non-profit group Hope for Boone County, highlighted the ongoing impact heroin and opioid abuse continue to have in the region.
Peggy Premec (right) talked candidly about her son Adam’s death from complications related to heroin abuse at Monday’s Heroin Town Hall in Florence. Paige Premec, Adam’s sister, is at left (photos by Mark Hansel).
The roster of speakers included health care professionals, Florence D.A.R.E. Officer Adam Argullin and parents impacted by the grip of heroin.
The event was moderated by Florence City Councilman Duane Froelicher, who lost a cousin to addiction in July.
“They say one-in-three people knows someone who is addicted, but it has gotten so bad that I think almost everyone has been touched by it in some way,” Froelicher said.
Argullin, the 2015-16 Kentucky D.A.R.E. officer of the year , explained how the heroin epidemic has changed his work.
“When I first started teaching D.A.R.E., it was alcohol and tobacco,” Argullin said. “Not that long ago, I had a student who seemed really tired… (and he said) ‘I was up late last night, my dad was dope sick.’ Dope sick is not a term that an 11-year-old should ever have in their vocabulary.”
Argullin also provided some sobering statistics, including 193 calls for service in the city of Florence that were labeled as an overdose run, and that doesn’t include cardiac arrest or other drug-related calls.
By far, the most emotional accounts came from two women who have seen the impact heroin abuse has had on their families.
Peggy Premec talked about losing her son, Adam, to complications from heroin abuse in 2015.
“Inwardly, Adam was sensitive and he had struggles that he hid well from his family and friends,” Premec said. “With Adam’s seemingly endless positive traits, he had the potential to be anything, but drugs began to creep into his life when he was in high school.
Kay Kramer, right, a registered nurse with St. Elizabeth Healthcare and Florence D.A.R.E. officer Adam Argullin were among the speakers at Monday’s Heroin Town Hall.
Adam Premec successfully completed drug rehab twice and was 95 days clean the day he died. Unfortunately the toll addiction had taken on his heart was too much to overcome and he died in May of last year.
“One lapse in judgement can alter the course of an entire life,” Peggy Premec said.
Tammy Jump explained the challenges of having a daughter caught up in the cycle of addiction and of seeing a grandchild born addicted to heroin. She explained
Jump first talked about her two daughters who do not struggle with addiction and have excelled in their young lives.
“My oldest daughter is hard to talk about,” Jump said. “I always feel like I need to talk about my other girls first, so you know what kind of person I am and what kind of family I have…to defend myself in a sense. But also so you know that this can happen to any family”
Jump explained that her oldest daughter, now 34, was an “A” student before she started drinking, which led to marijuana and other drug use, and ultimately, heroin addiction.
“The escalation to heroin has changed the dynamic of my family and has affected every second of my life,” Jump said.
That was evident as Jump began to break down when talking about her granddaughter, Bella, being born addicted to heroin in 2013. She was joined onstage by her youngest daughter and managed to tell the story of the child’s ongoing health issues caused by the addiction at birth.
She received a standing ovation upon leaving the podium.
Kay Kramer, a registered nurse with St. Elizabeth Healthcare who provided an overview of heroin abuse, said addiction is not hopeless.
“People who are addicted are human beings,” Kramer said. “It’s not just, throw your hands up and say there is nothing that can be done, there are things that can be done if people get into treatment.”
Several groups that deal with the challenges of opioid addiction, including St. Elizabeth Heathcare and the Boone County Alliance, were also on hand to provide support and information for those in attendance.
Hope for Boone County meets on the first Monday of each month at the Boone County Board of Education building. For more information, click here .
Contact Mark Hansel at mark.hasnel@nkytrib.com
