On August 30th, from 6:00-7:15PM, Palm Beach State College hosted the latest Our Community, Our Health event, an interactive town hall focused on the national opioid crisis. A panel of guest speakers including Dr. Jay Kuchera, Dr. Henry Young, Dr. Jim Hall, Kevin Twombly and moderator Dr. Dave Campbell, gave updates on the latest threat of fentanyl and other synthetic opioids and shared research on how to prevent and treat addiction to opioids.
The town hall was held at PBSC before an audience of about 65 attendees, and broadcast via livestreaming video to over 95 online accounts as well as two remote viewing audiences—one at HealthStreet in Gainesville and another at the University of Minnesota. Panelists held an open discussion with the public about opioid addiction, treatment and current research and community efforts involved in confronting the national crisis. Passionate, engaged members of the public, many of whom have been affected either directly or indirectly by opioid addiction, submitted about 150 questions to the panel over the course of nearly one and a half hours, about a third of them being sent in via live poll and text messaging. At the conclusion of the town hall, resources were provided for attendees and viewers who were interested in additional information and resources.
In case you missed this event, you can watch the recorded livestream in full at this link. You can also read more about the event by following the media links below.
Gainesville Sun – “Opioid abuse, treatment on agenda at HealthStreet”
Independent Alligator – “UF hosts live viewing of opioid crisis panel”