Letters to the Editor
Race for Your Mental and Physical Health Sept. 10
Ravenwood Health is celebrating its 50th anniversary serving the residents of Geauga County.
What began as Geauga County Mental Health Services is now the largest, fully-accredited mental and behavioral health services center in Geauga County. We provide comprehensive, trauma informed, community-based mental and behavioral health care programs to all residents of Geauga County, including the fourth largest Amish community in the country.
Over the years, we have added alcohol and substance abuse prevention and treatment, teen specific services, residential care and much more.
Which brings me to the reason for this letter. The stigma of an individual having severe mental health or substance abuse problems still exists. These are the diseases no one talks about in public. But in reality, no family is immune or exempt from a family member having emotional, mental health or addiction behavior issues over time.
Increasingly, we are reading about cuts to health care while at the same time, we are seeing greater substance abuse, which can be linked to more violence and even suicides.
According to a report by the Geauga County Unintentional Drug Related Deaths 2008 2015, almost 70 percent of drug-related deaths involved more than one drug, including opioids, heroin and alcohol, and cost the lives of close to 90 individuals, many of them young men between the ages of 25 to 34. Now fentanyl, another seriously addictive and dangerous narcotic, is becoming a major threat. Across the state, fentanyl accounted for over 500 drug-related deaths; in Geauga County, 9 percent of drug-related deaths were caused by this drug. A more alarming statistic is that 85 percent of all towns and villages in Geauga County had at least one drug-related death between 2008 and 2014.
Ravenwood Health is a proud member of the Partnership for a Healthy Geauga. We want to increase public awareness of addiction and mental health issues and increase our treatment options for those who are suffering from these illnesses. In our continuum of care, our ultimate goal is to have healthy residents of Geauga County.
As part of our 50th Anniversary celebration and to increase community awareness, Ravenwood is hosting a 5K run and one-mile walk on Sept. 10. Please join us in racing for your mental and physical health.
Vicki Clark, President & CEO
Ravenwood Health
Why Repave During Day
Why does the Ohio Department of Transportation insist on causing delays and safety issues when repaving major traffic routes during the heaviest traffic times?
Wouldn’t it make more sense to do the road work between 7 p.m. and 6 a.m.?
Wouldn’t productivity increase with the change of work times?
I thought our tax dollars pay for this job.
M.G. Smith
Chester Township
