Benefit concerts planned for March 11 & 18
“Sober houses have been proven to be effective, so that’s why we’re moving in that direction.” – Dianne Kellogg
A sobering statistic surprises no one close to the opioid epidemic in the Buckeye State: Ohio is ground-zero in total opioid overdose deaths nationwide, according to a recent report.
Ohio also had the most deaths related to heroin and synthetic opioids: 1 in 9 heroin deaths and 1 in 14 synthetic opioid deaths in the country happened here.
According to state-by-state statistics compiled by the Henry J. Kaiser Family Foundation, 2,106 opioid overdoses were reported in Ohio in 2014, or 7.4 percent of the 28,647 deaths reported nationwide that year. California ranked second with 2,024 deaths and New York third at 1,739.
And Ohio is likely to continue on top. In 2015, drug overdoses claimed the lives of a record 3,050 Ohioans, according to the Ohio Department of Mental Health and Addiction Services. That’s eight people per day.
In Geauga County, Dianne Kellogg and her Red Tulip Project are one step closer to making a dent in the death rate — one woman at a time — by opening a recovery home in the Claridon-Kellogg House for women, age 18 and up, with alcohol or opioid addiction.
“Sober houses have been proven to be effective, so that’s why we’re moving in that direction,” Kellogg told Claridon Township officials and residents at the Feb. 20 trustees meeting. “There is in existence a house in Chardon for men, but there’s no place in the county for women.”
The Claridon-Kellogg House, which has been empty since 2009, is one of the oldest houses in Claridon and has been owned by the township since 2010. Several years ago, trustees estimated it would cost at least $100,000 to return the house to a functioning building, according to the fall 2012 issue of the Claridon Crier newsletter.
The Red Tulip Project of Geauga is proposing to enter into a 10-year lease with the township at $1 per year, with an automatic 10-year renewal at the end of the initial lease term.
The cost of all improvements, including tying into the township’s existing commercial septic system, will be paid for through private donations, Kellogg said. No public money will be involved.
“We will give the township back a better building than they give us,” Kellogg said, explaining, “part of what we will do is have bedrooms and bathrooms sufficient for four women and a house mother.”
Over the course of a year, she said they expect to serve around 20-26 women.
“But we need to multiple that times many just to serve this county,” she added.
“We are building a blueprint for a sober house for women, and possibly the need would be three or four other somewhere in Geauga County,” said Jim Dvorak, a Burton Township trustee and member of the Red Tulip Project’s board of directors.
Part of the Geauga County Opiate Task Force, which was formed in 2012 and is comprised of representatives from county churches, health care professionals, law enforcement, local government and schools, the Red Tulip Project is a non-profit, public charity that has been accepting tax-deductible donations since Sept. 2, 2016.
“We have $16,300 raised to date and we are pledged another $2,500,” Kellogg said, adding University Hospitals Geauga Medical Center has invited the group to speak to its doctors, “because they wish to make a donation to a worthy project that would hopefully help the opioid epidemic.”
Kellogg explained transitional housing comes after hospitalization, triage, detox and completion of an approximately 90-day recovery program.
“The people who would be coming to this house have to be clean, have to be tested weekly — random testing — have to be employed or working toward employment, and have to be working toward independent living or improving their educational status,” she said.
“We’ve done many years of research and we are working in conjunction with the experts,” added Kellogg, identifying Chardon Municipal Court Judge Terri Stupica, the Geauga County Sheriff’s Office and Lake-Geauga Recovery Centers.
In addition, she said her group is all about prevention and outreach, noting Ohio Attorney General Mike DeWine has brought together a coalition for implementing age-appropriate, evidence-based substance abuse education for all students in kindergarten through 12th grade.
“We are absolutely trying to get into the schools at an early enough age that we make it cool to be clean, and we provide children with a resilience and a resistance to what’s been going on,” said Kellogg.
“What we’ve been doing in Geauga County for the last 16 years is kind of trying to avoid this problem and is hasn’t worked, she said. “We just have to hit this head on, and we have to make our children resilient, and we have to get the people who are involved in using into some kind of a recovery program that’s actually going to help them.”
She added, “So far, sober house, sober high school, sober college has proven to be the most effective way to do that.”
Kellogg said the group expects to hold an open house for township residents in the near future.
Two benefit concerts also will be held: Saturday, March 11 at Newbury United Community Church at 7 p.m. and March 18 at St. Luke’s Episcopal Church in Chardon.
“After our concerts we always have a panel of experts to answer questions,” she explained, including lawyers from the public defender’s office, prosecuting attorney, Judge Stupica and counselors. “So, if you want to know what’s happening in Geauga County and you want to know how the problem has mushroomed, come to a concert and you’ll get more information.”
Trustee Roger Miller said the goal would be at the end of the initial 10-year lease the house no longer would be needed.
“Unfortunately, I don’t believe that will be the case,” he added.
Kellogg said experts “guestimate” the opioid epidemic will last 17 more years before it runs its course.
“So, we’re covered with a 20-year lease and then, at that point in time, I couldn’t pray for that more everyday, that at the end of that time period we wouldn’t need that house,” she added. “That would be the best thing that could ever happen to the epidemic.”
For more information about the concerts and the Red Tulip Project, contact Dianne Kellogg at diankel46@gmail.com or 440-537-3481.
