August 15, 2022 (Charleston, WV)—Dr. Susan Bissett, President of the West Virginia Drug Intervention Institute (WVDII) and Joe Murphy, CEO of Murphy Media and ONEbox LLC are no strangers to the opioid epidemic, the duo has worked collaboratively with their organizations for over four years to create and promote innovative strategies to reduce overdose deaths throughout their home state. Next month their organizations will promote Naloxone training and distribution to those attending Healing Appalachia September 23 & 24, 2022 at the West Virginia State Fair Grounds. Individuals completing the naloxone training will receive a special gift bag and have access to a VIP tent at the event.
Headliners at Healing Appalachia will include host acts Tyler Childers, Margo Price, Arlo McKinley, and others. Tickets are accessible at: www.healingappalachia.org. Funds raised at Healing Appalachia are dispersed through the nonprofit Hope in the Hills, which gave more than $50,000 in 2021 to such non-profits as Recovery Point WV, Camp Mariposa, Mercer County Fellowship, and many more. Hope in the Hills also started a music therapy pilot project in 2020.
“In this past year we lost over 100,000 people in the United States due to opioid addiction - to put that into perspective America lost 58,000 in the 21-year Vietnam War,” said Dave Lavender, President of the Hope in the Hills board. “Many folks in our region - and around the US - have been battling an epidemic within a pandemic. It’s easy to lose hope but we can fuel recovery together and we can save lives together if we bond together as a community. We feel like sitting on the sidelines is not optional. We feel that teaming up with pro-active groups such as the West Virginia Drug Intervention Institute, Inc., Murphy Media and ONEbox LLC is an important and potentially game-changing way to energize and activate the large and caring base of music fans to step out and step up to take this rather easy and simple training that has been proven to save thousands of lives.”
The organizations have the goal of educating over 1,500 concert goers—representing the number of lives lost in West Virginia to drug ovderdose in 2021. Persons can also complete the training online at: https://www.wvdii.org/healingappalachia