The Follow-Up Organizing Meeting to

the Hungry Hearts Community Conversation.

NOTES FROM:

Present: Sue Cherry, Community Restorative Justice Center

Paul Bengtson, Northeastern Vermont Regional Hospital
Justin Tin Barton-Caplin, Department of Health
Nancy Bassett, Kingdom Recovery Center
Carol Smith, BAART
Cindy Nutting, Kingdom Recovery Center
Bess OBrien, Kingdom County Productions
Steve Kline, Community Connections

It was agreed that the North Church was an excellent venue, and that
future discussions should be held there if possible
Bess announced that her tour was over, and the average audience was
140; some crowds were as large as 500
Venues were mixed as to ability to deal, with different areas in different
stages of addressing the problem of RX and Suboxone abuse. Common
issues raised during discussion were not enough resources, the need
for more staffing and community resources.
An interesting example is Addison County, where there was no MARS
treatment and the medical community and service agencies felt
isolated. They had started to organize even before the showing: three
committees were formed, addressing Recovery, Prevention and Public
Safety. During the discussion a physician announced that she had
taken on four patients for MARS.
A discussion ensued about how our community was organized in a
similar manner a decade ago around Bess movie Here Today, thru
the grassroots community group DART, or Drug Abuse Resistance
Team. It was the suggested and enthusiastically agreed upon that this
new community movement to address the still-dangerous disease of

RX and other Substance Abuse would be called DART 2.0, with a

motto of Smart DART
2.

for todays needs. DART rallied segments of the entire community to

address the scourge of heroin, and thru it and Here Today changed
the face and approach to Prevention and Treatment in Vermont. And
DART helped to de-silo the agencies and other parties, leading to a
new model of cooperation.
We discussed how we can do even better this time, involving the
business community, our schools, the medical community, the
correctional center, and all the parties with a stake in play, which
includes everyone.
We decided that each area in the state has strengths that can be
shared, and an effort thru the hospitals and ADAP can develop a
process to enable this sharing

This sharing of strengths and needs will be the format of our next DART 2.0
Community Conversation. We will form into teams of like-minded
organizations, and present, in ten minutes, what each team does, what they
wish they could do, and whats missing in their toolbox. Teams will develop a
short written outline of bullet points that can be handed out at the next
Conversation. The attendees can then bring their ideas and observations to
the table, and insight s can be gained and ideas for going forward can be
developed.
Teams are being organically developed. For instance, Paul and Patrick Flood
of NCHC can discuss the health care picture, perhaps with one of the
prescribing doctors such as Dr. Ajamie, Dr. Kraus or Dr. Ziebrowski. Or
perhaps the Docs would group with Carol from BAART to discuss the
challenges of MARS and the promise of the upcoming Hub & Spoke Model.
Perhaps NKHS can team with KRC, and NEKYS can partner with the Academy,
which should be brought into the effort. Tin will team with Rose from ATOD as
the Recovery Coalition; they could team with KRC. The Justice Center can
team with Law Enforcement. Community Connections can team with KRC,
ATOD, Womens Wellness Clinic or possibly ER personnel. The combinations
can be many, and Sue, Nancy and all of us are reaching out now to line up
the partners and teams.
So please send your ideas for partnerships, suggest those whom you think
should be on board, and get those suggestions to Paul, Nancy, Sue Cherry,

myself, or any of the team, the sooner the better. We would like to have an

as the 1st DART 2.0

Community Forum will take place on Tuesday, Dec. 17th,
6:00PM in the parlor at North Congregational Church, and
outline by end of Monday, November 25th,

there is much to do.

The format will be approximately 60 minutes of targeted Team presentations,
followed by a 15 minute break and 45 minutes of attendee discussion and
suggestion. Pizza will be served during the break, and feel free to bring any
other food item you would like to contribute.

3.
Smart DART 2.0 for Todays Needs. We will make a difference in
changing the face of RX misuse, addiction, and improve our
community in so many ways thru the process
Nancy Bassett will also be sending out her notes and suggestions for
presentation teams. She will finalize the teams in consultation with the 2.0
committee. Please contact us at:
Steve Kline, Community Connections at NVRH. s.kline@nvrh.org, or
kline503@hotmail.com, 802-7487552
Nancy Bassett, Kingdom Recovery Center. n.bassett@hotmail.com, 802-7518520
Feel free to also contact any of the above-mentioned attendees; the list will
grow