COLUMBUS, Ind. — The Alliance for Substance Abuse Progress (ASAP) has announced a new initiative called ‘Rethinking Wellness’. It hopes to address factors like alcohol accessibility, concerns about adult alcohol consumption, prescription and illicit substance misuse, and peer pressure, plus raise awareness about alcohol use among older adults.
“That is our rethinking wellness campaign in a nutshell,” said ASAP Executive Director Sherri Jewett. “Rethink your decisions and the impacts it has on your life and make an informed decision.”
The initiative is designed to help older people make better choices to avoid developing dangerous health conditions and diseases related to substance misuse. It offers a diverse range of resources, tools, and educational materials, including nationally recognized curriculums and programs from the Wellness Initiative for Senior Education and the Substance Abuse and Mental Health Services Administration.
It is in response to community assessments conducted between late 2021 and early 2022. Jewett told Local News Digital that the organization was just approved for a grant from the Substance Abuse and Mental Health Administration (SAMHSA) for up to $2 million over five years to help fuel these efforts.
Advocating for wellness as a preventive measure against substance misuse, the campaign addresses the root causes of unhealthy behaviors. About 40% of overdoses in the county and 15% of the Narcan that was administered by EMS in 2021 and 2022 was to those 45 years and older, according to Jewett.
“I absolutely believe they are overlooked. If you get a picture of someone in your mind that might have had an overdose or might have needed to have Narcan on an EMS run, you don’t think about someone that’s 67, you’ve got a younger person in mind.”
ASAP pinpointed prevalent issues and risk factors affecting adults:
- Excessive drinking (%) – Source: CRHF 2021 Community Health Needs Assessment
- 21.8 (Bartholomew) // 16.5 (Indiana) // 27.2 (US)
- Hospitalizations due to overdoses (Bartholomew) – Source: Indiana Next Level Recovery Dashboard 2021
- Age 45-64: 37.3% (32 hospitalizations)
- Age 45+ accounted for 50% of hospitalization but of only 41% of the population
- Depressive Disorder Diagnosis (%) – Source: CRHF 2021 Community Health Needs Assessment
- 31.8 (Bartholomew) // 21.0 (Indiana) // 20.6 (US)
Learn more about the Rethinking Wellness initiative at https://asapbc.org/prevention.
