WESTFIELD – The second in a series of community forums on the opioid crisis was held on Tuesday evening at Westfield Technical Academy’s “Tiger’s Pride” restaurant. Close to 100 people attended, including around 20 young people, according to Peter Taloumis, tech director for the school.
“It was a good blend of families, politicians, police, a strong school contingency, and city officials,” Taloumis said, calling it “a strong mix to address the crisis.”
The focus of the evening was support for families impacted by addiction. Speakers included some of the young people who talked about their own fight with addiction and the struggles of their friends.
Also among the speakers was Kate Phelon, executive director of the Greater Westfield Chamber of Commerce, who shared for the first time in public about her own daughter’s addiction to drugs.
Phelon said that she missed all the signs of Megan’s addiction when it started, thinking that her hurtful behavior was that of a normal teenage girl pushing the boundaries of independence. When she realized that her behavior was due to her addiction, Phelon said her most overwhelming frustration in trying to help her daughter was in “not knowing where to go or what to do.”
Now, ten years later, and following a period of incarceration which Phelan believes “saved her life,” Megan has been sober since September, and Phelon has found support in Al-Anon. She said her family has “hope for the first time in 15 years.”
She advocated for education starting at the elementary school levels, for more information and PSA’s on the disease, for more treatment beds, especially for women, and for everyone in the community to get on board.
“It was tough,” Phelon said about telling her story. “One of my main purposes was to help people, to keep the momentum going.” She said a lot of people thanked her afterwards for sharing.
“Whenever I hear firsthand from people directly affected or by their loved ones, it allows me to go back to Boston to be a more effective advocate,” said State Representative John Velis following the meeting. “You can never underestimate that human element.”
Velis said the legislature just passed “what I find to be a good bill, but nowhere near enough.”
He echoed Phelon’s call for more beds in western Massachusetts. He also said drug dealers need to be held more accountable, and the legislature has to stop the effort to repeal the mandatory minimum sentence.
“We need to throw the book at traffickers,” Velis said.
Also speaking at the forum was Tracy Wilkie of Agawam, who lost her son Shane LaFond to drugs in 2014.
“Sharing my story is my therapy,” Wilkie said. “It helps to keep my son’s memory alive.” Wilkie said her focus is on prevention with younger children, and on educating their parents.
“When I was going through it, I was having trouble getting information, and not knowing what to do,” she said.
Wilkie said she ended up having to call California for some help. She said the community forums that are underway would have been “so helpful” to her.
The next community forum will feature noted speaker and physician Dr. Ruth Potee from the Franklin County/North Quabbin Opioid Task Force. Potee will speak on addiction and the teen brain, and why the risk of addiction for a teen is so much higher than for a 25-year-old. The forum is scheduled for Wednesday, March 30 at 6:30 p.m. in South Middle School’s cafeteria.
