I can honestly say that i’ve been to so many dang airports that some of these places become my second home so to speak. In the last few years the state of Missouri has been a pretty normal spot for me to visit. I’ve gotten to know the airport in St. Louis and i’m not even sure if this fact has any kind of importance or relevance other than I know where to go without having to think about it. On behalf of Ste. Genevieve County Memorial Hospital I was invited to present to their community members August 29.
The drive to Ste Genevieve was about an hour and half outside of St. Louis. An interesting thing about Ste. Genevieve, every year the week of Labor Day there is a huge strip, I believe they told me 100 miles, that people have garage sales. At first I was like well maybe this is just part of the country that people like the folks from American PIckers are always finding stuff? I was wrong in that assumption, it’s just a yearly tradition! I was really intrigued by the amount of people that are stopping at these sales and buying stuff.
The area I stayed in, well the whole town in fact, is a huge historical part of the United States. It was a very cool part of the country that’s for sure. The organizers of the event were extremely kind and the turnout for the first event of this kind was exceptional in my opinion. The community members who came out were very attentive and had so many questions, which is my favorite part of presenting.
A sad truth that we are still dealing with across the country, after speaking with the Mayor, the area Sheriff refuses to arm his men and women in blue with NARCAN (https://www.rxlist.com/narcan-side-effects-drug-center.htm#overview) a drug that reverses opioid overdoses and it shows how much work we have to do when it comes to reduces stigma related issues around addiction. However, Dr. Randall Williams who is apart of the Department of Health and Senior Services signed an ordinance that made NARCAN available state wide at pharmacy without the need of a prescription, making it possible for people in Ste Genevieve to still be able to help save lives in their community. https://health.mo.gov/news/newsitem/uuid/93a0bb14-d44d-4072-9b4b-a0faf86a30eb/missouri-continues-fight-against-opioid-epidemic-with-innovative-approaches
I’m hoping I get an opportunity to return and speak with the students in the area! Thank you again to everyone in Ste Genevieve who supported my visit!
