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April 26, 2007
UMaine News Release
Contacts: Len Kaye, (207) 262-7922; George Manlove, (207) 581-3756
ORONO, Maine – The UMaine Center on Aging has received a $150,000 grant from the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency to launch a first-in-the-nation pharmaceuticals-return program to help keep tons of medications out of rivers, streams and groundwater.
According to the EPA, the UMaine pilot will start, implement and evaluate a mail-back plan to remove unused over-the-counter and prescription medications from homes. Typically, unused, unneeded or expired medications are flushed down toilets or thrown in the trash, and ultimately can make their way into the environment. Since compounds in many medications can be destroyed only through incineration, they often pass through landfill and wastewater treatment plants and end up in rivers, lakes and streams.
In the United States and in England, studies have shown that pharmaceuticals and common personal health care products in the environment can cause genetic changes in fish and wildlife. For instance, male carp living downstream from or near municipal wastewater treatment plants in a Las Vegas reservoir, the Potomac River in Washington, D.C. and in England have developed female sex organs, according to a September 2006 article in “Governing Magazine.”
Unused, unneeded or unwanted drugs stored in homes also can wind up in the hands of children exploring medicine cabinets, or thieves who steal and sell pain medications, muscle relaxants and other drugs, says Len Kaye, director of the Center on Aging, which serves as administrator for the Maine Benzodiazepine Study Group (MBSG). The study group is a consortium of lawmakers, policy makers, and professionals in health care, geriatric care, law enforcement, social work, private industry and other disciplines pressing for new ways to curtail the storage or casual disposal of potentially dangerous medications. The group has been awaiting the EPA funding, which will enable the implementation of the Maine Unused Pharmaceutical Disposal Project adopted by the legislature in 2004.
“We’re extremely pleased to receive word that our grant application has been approved by the EPA,” says Kaye, who also is the principal investigator for the EPA grant. “Now we can take steps to eliminate some of these medications from the waste stream and keep them out of the hands of people who should not have them. It’s been a very serious problem with established detrimental effects on the environment and wildlife.”
Dr. Stevan Gressitt, medical director of the Northeast Occupational Exchange in Bangor, is the co-principal investigator for the grant and a co-founder of the MBSG.
In addition, the pilot project will test the effectiveness of an educational campaign about the hazards to life, health and the environment presented by improper storage and disposal of unused medications. Six thousand mailers will be available to the public through participating pharmacies in four counties, Aroostook, Penobscot, Kennebec and Cumberland.
The EPA provided a second non-profit organization in St. Louis with a similar grant to approach the problem in a slightly different way. Area Resources for Community and Human Services in St. Louis, in conjunction with the St. Louis College of Pharmacy, will have community grocery stores serve as collection sites for unwanted medications over an 18-month period, covering a 2.7-million population base.
In both projects, older adults will be involved in the design and implementation of the programs. These grants are part of EPA's larger effort to protect the health of older adults, who may be more susceptible to environmental hazards, through its Aging Initiative. The Aging Initiative encourages civic engagement to recognize and reduce environmental hazards in their communities.
The Maine project also will include an inventory of the types and quantities of drugs being returned. Inventory data could prove useful to the medical community in changing its prescribing practices to reduce the incidence of unused medications.
EPA Project Officer Kathy Sykes says that while some states have held one-day drug-return programs, the Maine initiative and the St. Louis program both are the first pharmaceutical return programs of such proportion. The Maine mail-back and inventory aspects of the program are firsts in the country, she adds.
Kaye estimates that, in Maine, the pilot project will remove 1.5 tons of unwanted medications from homes or the waste stream.
More information about the project can be found on the Center on Aging Web site at www.umaine.edu/mainecenteronaging or by going directly to www.mainebenzo.org.
In addition to the Center on Aging, the EPA and the MBSG, other project partners include the Community Medical Foundation for Patient Safety, Maine departments of Environmental Protection and Health, Maine Drug Enforcement Agency, Maine offices of Elder Services, Substance Abuse and Attorney General, the Maine Pharmacy Association, Maine RSVP Programs, Margaret Chase Smith Policy Center at UMaine, National Council on Patient Information and Education, Northern New England Poison Center, Northeast Occupational Exchange and the Villanova University Center for the Environment.
Feb.
6, 2006
UMaine
News Release
Contacts: Peg Cruikshank, 581-1228; George
Manlove, 581-3756
ORONO
– The title of her newly revised anthology,
Fierce with Reality: An Anthology of Literature
on Aging, embodies the paradoxes that come
with the consideration of aging for Margaret
“Peg” Cruikshank, author and
lecturer in women’s studies at UMaine.
So does the frustration Cruikshank feels
when doctors or others address the 66-year-old
skier, hiker and kayaker from Corea, near
Gouldsboro, as “young lady.”
However innocent, the greeting is categorization
all too common and subtly offensive to people
who are, indeed, proud of their age.
“What about all my other identities?”
asks Cruikshank. “Identifies are like
a mobile in relation to one another.”
For millions of older people entering an
age of new realities, spirits are high,
health is good, and patronizing clichés
to raise the spirits of the aging are unnecessary,
even “toxic” to a woman’s
psyche, says Cruikshank, who holds a master’s
degree in gerontology, a doctorate in English
and is a faculty associate with the Maine
Center on Aging at the university..
Fierce with Reality, originally published
in 1995, is a new collection of essays,
short stories, poetry and parables about
the aging process as related by those of
advancing years contemplating new realities
and society’s perceptions of them.
It includes the writing of young Asian-American
students in Cruikshank’s English language
classes from her days teaching at City College
of San Francisco. They observed the isolation
of many institutionalized elders.
A common perception about older people is
disparaging: failing health, depression,
stubborn, demented, Cruikshank writes. She
hopes Fierce with Reality, published by
Nancy Randolph of Just Write Books in Topsham,
Maine, begins to dispel those myths. It
is a particularly significant book in a
state like Maine, with the largest demography
of older people than any other state in
the nation.
Cruikshank asks readers to consider “the
dozens and dozens of interesting people
who are vital and enjoy a good quality of
life.”
She believes the essay, “Who Says
an Older Woman Can’t/Shouldn’t
Dance?,” reprinted in Fierce with
Reality from author and Spelman College
professor Gloria Wade-Gayles’s book
Rooted Against the Wind captures the theme
of the anthology.
“It’s a powerful piece,”
Cruikshank says.
The titles of Cruikshank’s chapters
suggest a revision of a common portrayal
of an expanding generation being pushed
aside by the world’s infatuation with
youth, wealth and beauty: “A Kaleidoscope
of Images,” “Homage to Grandmothers,”
“Strength and Wisdom,” “Aging
Is Not for Sissies,” “Growth
and Change,” “Defiance &
Self-Determination,” “Loss,”
“Humor,” “Ageism,”
“The Fountain of Youth: Two Asian
Versions” and “Reflections.”
Cruikshank sets the tone of the anthology
with its title. “Fierce is never a
quality you would ever associate with older
people, so right here I was trying to break
a stereotype,” she says.
Fierce with Reality includes works by celebrated
authors, unknown authors, and men, women
and the ethnically diverse. It also includes
writers from Maine, including Lisa Asnis
of Orono, a nontraditional student pursuing
a master’s degree at UMaine.
“I’m trying to raise consciousness
about the differences in aging,” Cruikshank
says. The experience of aging for the poor
is different from the wealthy, she says.
It is different for black people, for Native
Americans, for Asians and for those from
the Middle East. Fierce with Reality provides
a sampling of some of those experiences.
Considered appropriate reading for all audiences,
including college courses of multiple disciplines,
Fierce with Realty can be ordered through
local bookstores, including BookMarcs Bookstore
& Café in Bangor, Borders, Barnes
& Noble Booksellers, Amzon.com and Just
Write Books.
Cruikshank is the author of several other
books, including Learning to be Old: Gender,
Culture and Aging and Thomas Babington Macaulay.
In addition to teaching women’s studies
courses, she also has taught courses on
aging and women at City College of San Francisco.
She will present a public reading of Fierce
with Reality at 6:30 p.m., April 25 at the
Bangor Public Library, and in June, Cruikshank
will appear with Anita Hill and Dolores
Huerta in an AARP panel discussion on diversity
and aging. She also intends to offer a course
titled “Women and Aging” at
UMaine in the fall.
Dec.
19, 2006
UMaine
News Release
Contacts: Jennifer Crittenden, 262-7923;
George Manlove, 581-3756
ORONO
- A recently completed study by the UMaine
Center on Aging on alcohol and drug problems
among older adults in Hancock County has
revealed that abuse is pervasive and getting
worse as Baby Boomers age.
The
center found through a year-long study that
as drug and alcohol problems are increasing
among older Mainers, particularly in rural
Hancock County, they are poised to become
worse as a new generation of boomers, aged
40-60, joins an existing older population
already afflicted by substance abuse.
The
study, conducted for the Maine Office of
Substance Abuse and in partnership with
the Healthy Hancock Collaborative, further
confirmed what researchers had discovered
in previous studies - that many older people
suffering from alcohol and drug problems
go unnoticed if they routinely drink at
home alone. Also, some people may not think
about how much they are drinking on a daily
basis. For example, someone who has a glass
of wine with dinner and a night cap later
in the evening would be exceeding federally
recommended limits on alcohol consumption.
"They
are not getting arrested for OUI and they're
not getting treatment in large numbers,
signs that otherwise would underscore the
social and health consequences of this disease,"
says Jennifer Crittenden, research associate
with the Center on Aging. "We're having
a really hard time identifying numbers because
with older adults, the abuse issues are
really hidden."
The
study will form a foundation for a more
ambitious approach to prevention and treatment
work that would be carried out by the Center
on Aging, Healthy Hancock Collaborative
members in their communities, in addition
to physicians, social workers and others
who work with aging adults.
The
findings came from a dozen community focus
groups in Hancock County , a statewide survey
of counseling and social work professionals,
and interviews with a mix of professionals
and community members. Secondary data analysis
looked at arrest, substance abuse treatment
and healthcare data. Though most significant
in Hancock County, substance abuse among
aging adults is a growing problem throughout
Maine and the nation, Crittenden says.
"Older
adults have unique needs when it comes to
addressing substance abuse, which are not
currently being met by existing services,"
Crittenden says. "We need this issue
to get on the radar screen of physicians
and counselors out there working with this
population as it is often a hidden problem."
Among
the ideas Crittenden says are being discussed
include making everyone from friends and
family members to professionals who work
with older adults aware of the signs and
signals of alcohol and substance abuse,
in addition to creating more social opportunities
for reclusive older people, particularly
in rural or isolated areas.
"We
already have resources in Maine that can
be brought to bear on this issue,"
Crittenden says. "We have clinicians
who are working in the field, healthy community
coalitions, the Office of Substance Abuse
and primary care physicians who work with
older adults."
Part
of the research that questioned healthcare
providers showed that few knew much about
the issue of alcohol dependence and older
adults, much less how to address it in their
offices.
Crittenden
says the study affirmed the difficulty identifying
substance abuse situations, partly due to
the stigma among aging populations that
surrounds the issue and the fierce independence
of elders in Maine.
On
a more positive note, Crittenden says that
while many older adults deny they have substance
abuse problems and tend to reject professional
intervention, members of the boomer generation
may be more willing to seek help. Traditionally
more liberal attitudes about drugs and alcohol
among many boomers, which in some cases
leads to addiction problems, also extend
to their attitudes about counseling, therapy
and seeking help.
Boomers
are more physically and socially active
than any previous generation and are showing
up on law enforcement and healthcare radar
through arrest or treatment statistics,
Crittenden observes, which is evidence that
the free spirit generation is bringing certain
habits along with them as they age.
The
University of Maine is working closely with
the Healthy Hancock Collaborative to plan
local community forums, which can provide
an opportunity for community members to
learn more about the project findings, as
well as start a dialogue about essential
next steps in moving the recommendations
forward.
Project
information tip sheets and the full report
are available at http://www.umaine.edu/mainecenteronaging/pubandrep.htm#OSApubs
.
Aug. 3, 2006
UMaine News Release
Contacts: Lenard Kaye, 262-7922; Marcia Sibley, (207) 794-6700; George Manlove, 581-3756
ORONO -- The UMaine Center on Aging is using technology -- the Internet -- to help provide several new services for grandparents and other relatives who serve as foster parents in remote parts of northern Penobscot and southern Aroostook counties.
The Center on Aging recently received a $10,000 grant from the Brookdale Foundation in New York to fund a two-year project to bolster support services for kinship or "grandfamilies." It allows the center, in conjunction with two partner agencies, to
continue groundbreaking work it started in 2002 with a survey of the difficulties facing grandparents and others who serve as parents for relative children.
The center received the grant in April and is currently expanding several existing services and launching new ones under the Relatives as Parents Program (RAPP). The purpose of RAPP is to enable grandparents and other relatives who serve as parents
-- when children's biological parents are unable to care for them -- the same services, privileges and financial assistance that is available for unrelated foster parents. More than a dozen agencies or organizations in Maine that oversee or provide
services for foster children make up a RAPP Task Force, which guides project priorities.
"We are delighted that this is now the third consecutive RAPP award that the center has received, allowing us to extend the reach of our efforts to serving 'grandfamilies' in extremely rural communities that have been traditionally underserved,"
says Lenard Kaye, professor of social work and director of the Center on Aging.
New services being offered in the Lincoln and Millinocket areas and in southern Aroostook County will provide free support, information and aid to grandfamilies in remote regions where there are few resources or opportunities for relative parents to
get assistance. The Internet will be used for live chats and seminars.
"This is what we consider the third sequence of activities that has received combined funding for a problem we think is very important, and that is grandparents serving as parents," Kaye says. "We're doing some very unique and original activities in
this project."
Only four states in addition to Maine received Brookdale Foundation grants under this initiative.
The funding will enable the Center on Aging, working with Families And Children Together (FACT) of Bangor and Health Access Network (HAN) in Lincoln to: identify rural relative caregivers not being served by existing programs and establish support
groups for them; offer a series of Internet-based discussions for caregivers who cannot conveniently travel to places where services are available; and establish a pilot voucher system to keep children safely occupied in community recreation
programs while grandparents attend as many as nine support group meetings in year one and 12 in year two.
Four Internet seminars with on-line discussions also are being planned over the two-year grant period to reach people in remote areas and often miles from existing support programs. The first of the seminars is set for Oct. 4-5.
Additionally, the grant will allow the Center on Aging and its partners to generate four caregiver tip sheets over the next two years, and plan a day-long conference on legal issues facing relative parents and the specialists who work with children
and families.
Kaye says a lack of communication and information about services is a problem among kinship families in northern communities, often compounded by transportation, health and financial issues in rural communities. "That's one of the major challenges
facing these folks; they don't know what's out there for support services," he says.
Marcia Sibley, clinical director in HAN's Lincoln office, says the expanded services are expected to help many grandfamilies in the agency's service area.
"At Health Access Network, we recognize the need to expand our communities' existing services and offer our dedicated grandparents and relative caregivers additional resources that will be made available through the generosity of this grant, and
also the services that are currently available," she says. "We … look forward to working together with UMCoA and FACT to offer our support for RAPP opportunities and education that will be offered to our families of northern Penobscot County."
HAN provides services for 14,000 residents from 19 communities in the Lincoln-Millinocket area. FACT provides services in the greater Bangor area. Both agencies will promote the new and expanded services by word of mouth, flyers and through several
Web sites. The Center on Aging will provide overall administrative direction and plan all the project's educational components.
Further details are available by calling Tracey Cousineau in HAN's Lincoln office at (207) 794-6700, Yvette Herring in HAN's Millinocket office at 1-866-426-4584 or Jennifer Crittenden at UMaine at (207) 262-7923.
July 6, 2006
Contacts: Len Kaye, 262-7922; George Manlove, 581-3756
ORONO - Lenard Kaye, director of the Center on Aging at the University of Maine, recently was elected president of the Maine Gerontological Society, a statewide non-profit organization that exists to address issues effecting older adults.
It serves as the primary interdisciplinary association of individuals and organizations in the state focusing on aspects of aging education, community service and research that have state and federal policy consequences.
Kaye, a professor of social work and Libra Professor in the College of Business, Public Policy and Health, has worked at UMaine since 2001. He was elected at the June 20 meeting of the Board of Directors of the Maine Gerontological Society. The society’s annual conference was held in conjunction with the sixteenth annual Rural Geriatric Conference in Bar Harbor June 1-2.
Kaye holds a bachelor of arts degree from State University of New York at Binghamton, a master's in social work from New York University and a doctorate in social welfare from
Columbia University. He is a resident of Orono, Maine.
Other officers of the Maine Gerontological Society elected at the June board meeting were: Marilyn Gugliucci of Biddeford, director of Geriatric Education and Research in the College of
Osteopathic Medicine within the University of New England, vice president; Roberta Downey of Bangor, director of Program Outreach for NeedyMeds, treasurer; and Sharon Berz of
Presque Isle, long-term care director for the Aroostook Agency on Aging, secretary.
Newly installed board members were: Amy Cotton of Bangor; Peggy Haynes of Portland; Durward Huffman of Augusta; Jackie Kelly of Poland; Graham Newson of Augusta; Don Sharland of Saco; Mary Walsh of Augusta; Elizabeth White of Lewiston; in addition to Berz, Downey, Gugliucci and Kaye.
The UMaine Center on Aging is a university-wide, interdisciplinary center specializing in aging education, research and community service. The mission of the center is to serve the
state by maximizing the quality of life of Maine's older citizens and their families.
June 2006
Professor Enric Benavent i Vallè from the Universitat Ramon Llull in Barcelona Spain visited the UMaine Center on Aging and the UMaine School of Social Work in June to learn more about lifelong learning approaches and how such approaches could be implemented in Spain. Center on Aging staff members met with Professor Vallè and had a lively discourse on various aspects of education and learning across U.S. and Spanish culturals.
| Enric Benavent i Vallè engages in discussion while visiting the Center on Aging |
The National Advisory Committee on Rural Health and Human Services (NACRHHS) will be holding its 53rd Meeting in Camden, Maine from June 11-13, 2006. The Committee advises the Secretary of the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services on issues that affect rural communities. Field meetings, such as this one in Camden, are an integral part of the Committee’s ongoing work. The visit to Maine is being hosted by the UMaine Center on Aging and its director, Dr. Lenard Kaye, who is a member of the NACRHHS.
Each year, the Committee holds two of its three meetings in rural communities. The meetings provide an opportunity for the Committee to gather information for its annual report from rural providers and citizens. The 2007 report will focus on three key issues: Medicare Advantage in rural communities, Head Start in rural areas and substance abuse in rural areas.
The meeting will begin on Sunday, June 11th at 1:30 p.m. and conclude on Tuesday, June 13th at 11:00 a.m. The primary portions of the meeting will take place at the Camden Opera House. The meeting is open to the general public and there will be opportunity for public comment at the conclusion of each day of the three day meeting.
Scheduled speakers presenting testimony include: Richard Barringer, Research Professor, Planning, Development and Environment, University of Southern Maine; Kimberly Johnson, Director, Maine Office of Substance Abuse; David Hartley, Director, Maine Rural Health Research Center, Muskie School of Public Service, University of Southern Maine; Stephen Gilson, Professor, Center for Community Inclusion & Disability Studies, University of Maine; Deborah Totten, Assistant Director, Action for Older Persons, Inc.; Carolyn Drugge, Director, Maine Office of Child Care and Head Start; and George Siriotis and Laura Schuntermann, Anthem.
Two field site visits have been scheduled: the first with the Bucksport Community Health Advisory Committee in Bucksport, ME hosted by Mary Jane Bush, Health Planning Director to discuss issues surrounding substance abuse; and the second to address Head Start with Head Start and Children and Family Opportunities of Washington & Hancock Counties, in Ellsworth, ME to be hosted by Jeanie Mills, Executive Director.
Eastern Maine Healthcare Systems (EMHS) has generously agreed to sponsor a special reception for NACRHHS members, federal staff, and honored guests at Beau Chemin Farm, the home of Wayne and JoAnn Myers. EMHS is the regional healthcare system serving all of central, eastern, and northern Maine with many of its services directed at meeting the needs of citizens residing in the most rural regions of the state.
The National Advisory Committee on Rural Health and Human Services is a 21-member citizens' panel of nationally recognized experts which was chartered in 1987 to advise the Secretary of Health and Human Services on ways to address health care problems in rural America. Chaired by former South Carolina Governor David Beasley, the committee's private and public-sector members reflect wide-ranging, first-hand experience with rural issues -- in medicine, nursing, administration, finance, law, research, business, and public health.
For more information about the NACRHHS, please visit: http://ruralcommittee.hrsa.gov/ The 2006 Annual Report of the National Advisory Committee on Rural Health and Human Services has recently been published. It is available online at: ftp://ftp.hrsa.gov/ruralhealth/NAC06forweb.pdf.
Thursday, February 16, 2006
Bangor Daily News
BANGOR - The Eastern Maine Transportation Collaborative, a partnership of 30 social service, health care, transportation, state and academic organizations, received a $98,000 grant from the Maine Health Access Foundation. The funding will allow the organization to implement recommendations from its yearlong assessment of elderly health care transportation.
Maine's population is aging. Nearly 14 percent of Maine residents are age 65 and older. Problems include accessing quality, convenient transportation for health care, personal care or grocery shopping. Those who do have transportation available may need to rely on family members, who must take time off from work to drive a loved one to an appointment. There is help available.
The key is knowing where to find it. The collaborative's one-year planning assessment on the health care transportation needs of the elderly in Penobscot, Hancock and Washington counties confirmed that information on transportation options must be clearer, and provided directly to those who could make good use of that information.
With the grant, Eastern Maine Transportation Collaborative will accomplish several things - get the word out that health care transportation is available in the three-county region; encourage health care providers to address the question of transportation needs when scheduling appointments; provide assistance to elderly Bangor Area Transit riders to fully utilize the bus system; and strengthen the existing volunteer driver networks.
Eastern Maine Healthcare Systems is the lead applicant for the project, and the University of Maine Center on Aging will continue to serve as primary consultants for the grant. Other Eastern Maine Transportation Collaborative members include the Health Access Network, Penquis and Washington-Hancock county Community Action Program agencies, Eastern Agency on Aging, St. Joseph Hospital and the Bangor Area Transit.
Led by United Way of Eastern Maine, Eastern Maine Transportation Collaborative has been active for nearly two years. It is an avenue for improved information sharing on the public transportation needs of the region, the resources available to meet those needs, and training and advocacy on the state and local levels. To learn more, visit www.unitedwayem.org/how_we_help/collaboratives.htm.
University of Maine News Release
December 21, 2005
Contacts: Len Kaye, (207) 262-7922, Dr. Stephen Gressitt, (207) 568-7599, George Manlove (207) 581-3756
ORONO, Maine -When it comes to abuse or misuse of prescription drugs, usually OxyContin, Oxycodone or Percocet come to mind.
But a potentially more dangerous family of drugs, benzodiazepines, often causes more overdoses and serious accidents than people realize, according to a Maine-based consortium that is working to increase awareness about the abuse and misuse of benzodiazepine drugs.
Benzodiazepines, called "benzos" for short, include drugs like Ativan (generically called Lorazepam), Xanax (alprazolam) or Valium (diazepam), which are commonly prescribed for anxiety, stress and insomnia.
"Benzos have been around for so long as 'mother's little helpers,' that people tend to forget the abuse that can take place and, with the elderly, they can be responsible for hip fractures," says Bangor psychiatrist Dr. Stevan Gressitt. He is the founder of the Maine Benzodiazepine Study Group (MBSG), which is leading a consortium of agencies, individuals and organizations, including the UMaine Center on Aging, to raise public awareness of the abuse and misuse of benzodiazepines.
"They've been 40 years on the market, but we haven't paid attention to their role in motor vehicle accidents or hip fracture incidents," Gressitt says. "It's not that it's not been studied, but it's sort of under the radar since OxyContin tends to get the headlines. Benzos as a family are a significant cause of death, as opposed to a single drug."
The Center on Aging recently received a $25,000 grant to organize and coordinate a two-day, international conference on the topic in Bangor, with people coming from the United States, Canada and Great Britain. As the initiative to collect information about and recommend solutions to benzodiazepine misuse grows, the Center now is poised to sponsor and administer the MBSG from the Orono campus.
The group includes representatives from healthcare, pharmaceuticals, law enforcement and social work. Its mission is to document problems caused by benzodiazepine drugs, create a directory of preferred prescribing practices and recommend effective alternative treatment for anxiety, stress or other symptoms for which benzos are commonly prescribed. Another goal is to expand Maine's new drug return program, a mail-back opportunity for people who no longer need the benzodiazepines or other prescription drugs to safely mail them to state drug enforcement agencies for incineration.
In most cases, prescription drugs that are no longer needed are flushed down the toilet and into municipal sewage systems. But Jennifer Crittenden, research associate at the Center on Aging, says that causes environmental problems for fish and wildlife, as narcotics flush through treatment plants and into rivers.
In an effort to reduce improper disposal of drugs, law enforcement officials in some communities have agreed to collect unneeded prescription drugs and see that they are destroyed properly, Gressitt says.
"We're already making an impact," Gressitt says. Law enforcement agencies have collected more than 44,000 pills from Mid-Coast area patients who no longer needed them, he says. The Penobscot County Sheriff's Department also has picked up a significant amount of prescription drugs from Penobscot County, he says.
Those are drugs that won't be taken accidentally by children, stolen from medicine cabinets for sale or use at parties, Gressitt says, or mixed inappropriately with other prescription drugs by people who may not realize the combinations can be dangerous.
"Every doctor can tell stories about a patient bringing in a paper bag filled with pills and saying 'I don't know which ones I'm supposed to be taking,' " he says.
For older people, adds Len Kaye, director of the Center on Aging, overuse or misuse of benzodiazepines can put such persons at greater risk of serious falls.
Additionally, the medical community is expecting difficulties in January when Medicare ends coverage for benzodiazepines. Many of the estimated 1.7 million Americans who take benzodiazepine drugs are low-income and many have developed addictions to them.
"Cold turkey is not the way to go," says Kaye, who worries that people will substitute alcohol or other drugs that are not designed to treat symptoms for which benzos are prescribed. The Center on Aging is currently conducting research on alcohol and substance abuse by elders in Maine supported by a grant from the Maine Office of Substance Abuse.
The MBSG, now almost four years old, hopes to address benzodiazepine misuse by promoting alternative treatments whenever possible and encouraging other measures aimed at keeping prescription drugs out of the wrong hands.
"We're beginning to bump into public policy issues and possibly can get more into practical drug policies as opposed to theoretical," says Gressitt. "Over the last year, the Center on Aging has gotten more and more involved and has produced some research on it own."
Kaye says Maine can be proud that a much-needed initiative to both study and reduce prescription drug misuse started here. "It's the only group of its type known to exist," he says. "We're extremely pleased to be working with other individuals and organizations in the state, throughout the United States, and internationally, to address this important issue."
UMaine Center on Aging Studying Binge and Chronic Drinking by Elders
University of Maine News Release
July 8, 2005
Contacts: Lenard Kaye, (207) 262-7922, George Manlove, (207) 581-3756
ORONO – Binge drinking typically may not be associated with older people, but the UMaine Center on Aging says alcohol abuse among elder Mainers, particularly Downeast, is a major problem that is about to be addressed.
The Center has begun a two-year study, funded by a $30,000 grant from the state Department of Health and Human Services' Office of Substance Abuse, to find out how prevalent binge and chronic drinking is among people over age 65, what lifestyle or cultural factors contribute to it and what can be done to influence those factors.
"This is a very exciting project that is going to investigate a very severe and neglected problem, and that is alcohol abuse among older adults," says Lenard Kaye, director of the UMaine Center on Aging.
The study will be statewide in nature but will focus especially on Hancock County, which has a disproportionately high percentage of older alcohol abusers compared to other regions of the state, according to a 2002 Health Planning Report for the Hancock region performed by Eastern Maine Healthcare.
Heavy drinking, particularly when mixed with a multitude of prescription drugs many elders take to stabilize their health, can lead to mental and physical health complications that may otherwise be avoidable.
Maine, statistically, has the largest percentage of older people of any state in the nation and Maine ranks 14th in sales of spirits. Studies show that alcohol-related costs in Maine are approximately $1 billion a year, according to Kaye. "These expenditures are reflected in the cost of treatment, traffic accidents, associated health problems and lost work time," he says.
It's not unusual for rural populations to have higher than average rates of alcoholism, and older people in rural settings often face loneliness, isolation and depression – putting them at particular risk. They sometimes drink as a coping mechanism, Kaye says.
Kaye says substance abuse programs nationally and in Maine are heavily geared to younger substance abusers and seldom focus on the needs of the elderly.
"We're hoping our recommendations will include some creative prevention programs that the Office of Substance Abuse and others can consider adopting as a result of our study," he says.
Kaye and Center on Aging research associates will recruit several graduate students in the UMaine social work program to assist with organizing and coordinating information gathering through more than two dozen community and state agencies, organizations or institutions that work with older adults.
The two-year research project involves close collaborations with the Healthy Hancock Coalition, a group of community health coalitions in Bucksport, Ellsworth, Blue Hill, and Mount Desert Island committed to improving the quality of life of Mainers in their region of the county. In addition to using written questionnaires, the Center on Aging will administer as many as a dozen focus groups to query a broad variety of people who work or live with the elderly, including physicians and other health care professionals, families, township officials, educators and even clergy, according to Kaye.
"We are also going to interview experts throughout the state who have experience with these folks," he adds. Recognized experts in addiction medicine and substance abuse treatment services will provide technical consultation to the project.
Researchers will seek to sort out how economic and social status affects heavy drinkers, and how geographic isolation, family relationships, cultural traditions and health status affect consumption patterns, Kaye says.
"It's difficult to tell anyone to stop drinking, but to affectively alter that behavior, you've got to deal with the root cause," he says.
Information collected will remain confidential. "We are not interested in uncovering the names of individuals here," Kaye notes. "Rather, we want to shed light on significant trends and those factors that figure most prominently in influencing alcohol consumptions patterns among older Mainers."
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