Partnership in Action for Trinity Health (PATH) hosted a successful Town Hall Meeting for the Trinity County community on March 14th, 2024, at the Trinity County Fairgrounds in Hayfork with over 30 people in attendance.
The focus was on protecting youth, specifically related to concerns about vaping, tobacco, and opioid use. It was an educational and engaging evening with presentations, community booths, and roundtable discussions. Dinner was provided and local speakers from Human Response Network, Trinity High School Friday Night Live, and Trinity County Public Health shared information on issues affecting our youth and communities related to vaping, underage substance use, and opioid overdose.
Discussions followed to share concerns and brainstorm solutions with other community members. A summary of those discussions follows.
General solutions offered to improve the health of our community included:
Coordinate and provide increased anti substance use information through flyers, banners, community Facebook pages, Trinity Journal, emails to civic groups and churches, and mailers.
Provide more drug and tobacco free community events to foster community pride in Hayfork and build morale.
Build trust and unity in the community by participating in neighborhood watches and door to door visits to offer help to neighbors or be willing to call the fire department or police if necessary.
Provide easy access to Narcan and free test kits through volunteer fire departments.
Destigmatize drug use and provide treatment resources to homeless, homeless compounds, survivors, and current users.
Address food insecurity and housing.
Provide vocational training followed by employment.
Reduce and/or stop the sales of tobacco, especially near schools through laws and more presence of law enforcement.
Close the vaping store.
Provide drug and smokefree zones at community centers, events, in front of stores with no smoking signs and enforcement.
Churches in the community become united for this cause.
Share concerns with the Board of Supervisors and get them involved.
Solutions offered specific for youth were to:
Encourage student/parent/teacher relationship and provide more education in schools as early as 1st or 2nd grade.
Share information about where and how the students are accessing vapes and other drugs, the signs of use for parents and teachers to recognize.
Show the risks or hazards of health and life consequences with before and after pics, inform about social media pressure and make smoking and drug use uncool.
Include how nicotine use has changed and hold an event like “Every 15 minutes” to illustrate drug use such as fentanyl and other drugs inserted into vapes.
Provide support to students through peer to peer youth ambassadors and provide access to parks and recreation classes and sports, scouts, faith groups, etc.
Suggested solutions encouraged for schools are as follows:
Unify policies in schools for education, confiscation of paraphernalia, enforcement of policies, and support resources.
Encourage and provide extracurricular and healthy community activities to students and families including skills to manage pain/stress with healthy alternatives such as nature, mindfulness, movement, exercise, art, and art therapy through school groups such as Friday Night Live.
Destigmatize and offer voluntary support groups to quit vaping, including one on one conversations or counseling, and provide resources for students who get caught and their parents, including mandatory education classes and resources to quit.
PATH greatly appreciates the participation of the community in this event and is excited to move forward along with community partners to further develop actionable solutions. If you would like to become involved in the work of the PATH coalition, please contact the Tobacco Education Program at Human Response Network at (530)623-2024 or tobaccofreetrinity@hrntrinity.org.