Dave Bender, Executive Director of Compass Mark, is optimistic about the potential for addiction treatment services to improve quality of life in Lancaster County. According to Bender, “a stronger society” can be built by working to inform and empower individuals in their personal choices regarding addiction, rather than merely imposing prohibitive laws…
Tag: Community Service Profile
Sertoma Club’s first car show a success
The Sertoma Club of Lancaster, already famous for hosting the “World’s Largest Chicken Barbeque,” hosted its first Classic Car Show in Long’s Park last Saturday. Billed as “A Midsummer Night’s Dream Car Show,” the event was tinged with a Renaissance theme and drew about 800 cars. According to Jon McDonald, chairman for the event, similar shows that have been established for more than 20 years might only draw as few as 300 cars.
Compass Mark emphasizes choice in student intervention
Since its inception (then as the “Council on Drug and Alcohol Abuse”) in 1966, Compass Mark has been seeking to work “ahead of the curve” in providing addiction treatment and prevention services in Lancaster County. In the early years, according to Executive Director Dave Bender, this meant setting up Lancaster’s first detox, halfway house, and residential counseling program…
Eastern Market: In the neighborhood for sustainable healthy living
As mentioned in the previous installment of this series, Eastern Market draws a quarter of its business from the surrounding neighborhood. According to Smith, this relationship with the East—and specifically Southeast—sections of Lancaster City lies at the heart of the Market’s very existence. Increasing neighborhood involvement is Eastern Market’s top priority: “I think, generally, it’s a neighborhood that doesn’t necessarily shop at Central Market, so there’s potential for us to tap into an entirely different population,” Smith said.
Eastern Market: Pushing the boundaries of revitalization
Strolling East from Central Market, one will observe the towering Marriott Hotel on the right, followed by the courthouse on the left, and, a little further, the Demuth Tobacco Shop on the right. Many would assume this end of all “viable” destinations East of Penn Square. But, since 2006, the Historic Eastern Market at 308 East King Street has been working to prove that assumption wrong.
Project Hope and the state of AIDS in Lancaster County
According to Melinda Zipp, Director of Project Hope (a division of the Lancaster Urban League), there are about 2,500 people living in Lancaster County who have been infected with HIV/AIDS. And as much as 25% of these people do not even know it. This virus, life-altering at best and deadly at worst, can creep quietly through a population, often under the cover of secrecy and shame. So what does Lancaster County need to take on such an elusive threat to public health?
Council of Churches expands with county-wide need
Just as the Council of Churches’ (CoC) North Marshall Street exterior does not let on the full scope of services that are housed within, the entire headquarters itself is only one portion of the services that the CoC extends throughout Lancaster County. An interview with Executive Director Scott Fischer revealed a broadly spanning effort to address social needs within the city and beyond.
Council of Churches offers fine-tuned assistance programs
At 344 N Marshall St, the Council of Churches (CoC) headquarters rests behind a thrifty edifice: The simple white building is fronted with a modest parking lot and is adorned with little more than a few signs to identify the organization. But within those walls there runs an intricately patterned network of community services, each carefully modified over time to provide the highest quality care to the greatest number of people.
RASE works to improve addiction management
A previous NewsLanc interview revealed that effective Suboxone (a.k.a. buprenorphine) treatment for Lancaster’s heroin addicts is largely impeded by a lack of doctors interested in obtaining certification to prescribe this medication. The reason for this reluctance is that, in the words of a local expert, “A lot of physicians really don’t want to … have a caseload of heroin addicts.” To change this pattern of under-treatment, one area organization has set out to make the doctor’s role as simple as possible by independently coordinating the elements of care involved with Suboxone treatment.
SACA promotes Latino workforce investment at annual fiesta
On Thursday evening, May 22, the Spanish American Civic Association (SACA) hosted its 28th annual fiesta at the Centro Hispano building on Pershing Avenue in the Southeast section of Lancaster City. The fundraising event was attended by hundreds of guests, and bounced with a bright tone of celebration—for the Hispanic and Latino community in Lancaster and for the work done by SACA to strengthen that community.
The Lancaster Urban League: Much to do with little means
NewsLanc recently interviewed three project directors involved with the Lancaster Urban League (LUL): Regina Duell, Director of Operations; Zeltha Ellis, Director of Adult and Youth Education Support Services; and Melinda Zapp, Director of Project Hope. The LUL exists to empower poor and underprivileged minority groups, primarily living in Lancaster City.
Need rises while funding shrinks for preventative care
At the May 13 County Commissioners Meeting, the Board voted to approve the Lancaster County Mental Health Plan for Fiscal Year 2010-2011; it will next be submitted to Harrisburg for final approval. Although the plan is requesting $14.7 million for ’10-’11, it is expected that the Mental Health/Mental Retardation (MH/MR) program will actually be receiving a cut from its current $12.7 million budget. This will be the organization’s first budget cut since 1991.
Why so little funding for “working poor” rehab?
Most Federal and State funded programs have encountered budget cuts as a result of the recent economic recession. But, according to Kastner, this is no new development for the LCDAC. Whereas most other government funded human services programs are budgeted around $10 million each year, the LCDAC has received less than $4 million for each of the past seven years.
Rehab funding closed to Lancaster’s “working poor”
On December 8, 2008, the Lancaster County Drug and Alcohol Commission (LCDAC) had to cease accepting new placements into rehab and halfway house (HH) programs. There will be no new admissions until the beginning of the next fiscal year, on July 1. Of course, the LCDAC, which has historically received scanty funding from its State and Federal sources, has had to block admission to these programs before—but only for about two months, not seven.