5k supports families and raises awareness

On Sunday June 29th, 318 runners lined up for the start of the First Annual Learn To Cope Footprints 5K race at Pine Banks Park.  It was a great event that raised over $8000.00 for the organization.  People came from all over Massachusetts and several other states to run, walk, volunteer and give support.  Bob Balfour (Melrose resident and founder of Runners In Recovery), Joanne Peterson (founder of Learn To Cope) and The Melrose Substance Abuse Prevention Coalition would like to thank everyone involved for making this race such a big success. 

Learn To Cope is a support group for parents and family members dealing with a loved one’s addiction to drugs, often heroin or other opioids. One important goal of the 5K was to increase awareness of the devastating effects that substance abuse has on families and communities.  Many participants and volunteers at the race have lost loved ones to opioid addiction, which is now categorized as a public health epidemic not only in Massachusetts but also across New England. 

A great deal more work must be done, however, to educate our community about the opioid crisis.  Overdoses continue to occur every day in our region.  Melrose Ambulance, Fire and Police Departments regularly respond to overdoses and sadly we have lost many residents to opioid addiction, especially in recent months.

Since the closest meetings take place in Salem and Cambridge, another goal of the 5K race was to raise funds to start a local chapter in the Fall of 2014.  Residents of Melrose and nearby towns will soon have the option of attending a meeting closer to home.  Addiction is a family disease and Learn To Cope is a great resource for family members to get the support they need.  If you would like more information on these meetings or are interested in being trained as a Learn To Cope facilitator, please contact Jen Kelly, Coordinator of the Melrose Substance Abuse Prevention Coalition at 781-979-4128 or jkelly@cityofmelrose.org.

A huge amount of credit and thanks goes to Bob Balfour for making this 5K happen!  A long time runner, triathlete and incredible advocate for people dealing with addiction issues, Bob approached both Learn To Cope and The Melrose Substance Abuse Prevention Coalition several months ago with the idea.  We met with Mayor Rob Dolan, who was very supportive, and the planning began.  Bob worked tirelessly to organize, prepare and recruit a team of amazing volunteers and created an incredible event.  A very special thanks also goes out to Carolyn Fitzpatrick and Stephanie Riley for all of their amazing help and support. We would also like to thank the local businesses who generously donated raffle prizes and supplies: Marathon Sports; The Beauty Café; Whole Foods; Hillside Press and Turners Seafood.

Joanne Peterson founded Learn To Cope in 2004 when her own son became addicted to opioids. What started as a single peer-to-peer support group in Randolph has grown to include nearly 3,000 members nationally.  Learn To Cope meetings feature guest speakers, including professionals in the field of addiction as well as people who have been successful in long-term recovery who can offer much needed hope.

After advocating that family members are many times “first responders” to an overdose, Learn To Cope, supported by the Massachusetts Department of Public Health Bureau of Substance Abuse Services, became the first peer-led family support network in the country to train family members in overdose prevention and certify them in the administration of intranasal naloxone (Narcan). Training and enrollment in Narcan administration is available at every Learn To Cope meeting throughout the state of Massachusetts. Overdose prevention and Narcan administration has reversed thousands of potentially fatal overdoses in Massachusetts, keeping the hope for recovery alive for many families.

The Learn To Cope website reminds us that “Young people and communities need to be educated on opioid and prescription drug use. It doesn’t matter what your zip code, education level, or income is; addiction knows no boundaries, it does not discriminate. Addiction can begin with a legitimate prescription or an experiment.  Addiction is no longer only a family crisis, it is a community crisis as well.”

Please visit the website for more information and for meeting times of current Learn To Cope chapters:  www.learn2cope.org