Episode Transcript
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Speaker 1 (00:03):
Welcome. You're listening to the Keeping Ashland Healthy podcast, a
podcast production of the Mental Health and Recovery Board of
Ashland County, Ohio. Thanks for joining us and welcome back.
We are in the studio here in Ashland, Ohio at
the Mental Health and Recovery Board located on Counting Road
ten ninety five if you did not know that, and
(00:24):
this is David Ross, the executive director of the Mental
Health and Recovery Board. Today's episode is all about the
levee can Pain. Things are starting to heat up. We
have our kickoff breakfast that kind of officially really gets
things started. But I wanted to let the audience know
in advance what is coming and how you can get involved,
(00:46):
basic information about the levee. But yeah, I'll probably do
several podcasts over the next few months around the levee
and what the levy funds. It really is a vital
piece of what the Board does. It helps us provide
programs and services that many in the listening audience probably
benefits from, either directly or indirectly through a friend, family member, child,
(01:11):
or parent. So what are we talking about. We're talking
about the levee and it kicks off September tenth, eight thirty.
Hopefully that's none too early, Upper Convo over at Ashton University.
We're going to have a complimentary breakfast just to get
things started. You come in, you'll have a seat, There'll
(01:34):
be some friendly faces, I'm sure you'll know. We will
keep the program short. I anticipate no more than an hour.
There will be signs that would be a great place
to get your Levey sign, and we're going to hear
from several speakers. Our levee chair, doctor Dwight mclfresh, will
kick things off, as well as our board chair, Andy Kinney.
(01:57):
You'll hear from each of our executive directors, from our
our three contract partners, Apple, cd CADA and Catholic Charities.
And I will round things out at the end with
some some of the frequently asked questions that we hear
from folks in the community about the levee. But again,
it's an hour, it shouldn't take too long. You can
ask questions if your questions aren't answered during the presentations,
(02:19):
and you can grab a sign, get an omelet come
out on September tenth, eight thirty Upper Convo. To register
for that, you can go to our website Ashland MHRB
dot org Ashland MHRB dot org, or just call us
at the board offices four one nine, two eight, one
three one three nine, four one nine two eight one
(02:40):
three one three nine And just in case you're driving
or mowing the grass or otherwise you can't write these
things down, don't worry. Don't worry. I will put them
in the episode description. I don't want to cause any
kind of an accident. So what other levy events are
coming up? We are going to be super busy between
now through uh the election in early November, and we're
(03:02):
going to have various giveaways and information about the levee
at all of these events. I'll try to draw attention
to a few of the more exciting giveaways. Ashland County Fair.
Can you believe the fair starts on the fourteenth of September?
That is not very long from the recording when that
starts just about two weeks so the Ashton County Fair.
(03:23):
The board has a booth. We are in the Gold
Merchant's Building. I'm sure some of you have been out
to see us in years past. We would love for
you to swing by this year, and we're doing something
pretty exciting. We're trying to draw attention to the good
work of the four H kids very active during the fair.
We also want to draw attention to the levee, so
(03:45):
we are going to have some giveaways that are specific
to some of the animals that are going to be
shown on the days. So we've got five different animals
that we're going to be given away, and it all
started with our stress cow. Some of you maybe have
a stress cow from the board. We said, okay, what
(04:06):
about a stress horse and a pig and a sheep,
So you'll see a hen I mean of all things.
So you're going to have to stop by five days
to get all five in the collection or send somebody
on your behalf to get them. But we'll have five
different giveaways on five different days coinciding when the animals
(04:28):
are being shown. Just a shout out to our friends
in four H and all those that support that, the
young people. They go to a lot of work throughout
the year for that week of the fair, so we'll
be at the fair all week giving out materials as
well as those fun giveaways. Please stop by and see
us if you have any questions, If you need a sign,
we'll give away the signs there, so come out and
(04:51):
see us nine fourteen through nine twenty Ashonkni Fair right
when that ends, believe it or not, Sasquatch Sasquae watch,
it's going to make an appearance. The Loudville Bigfoot Festival
is on September twentieth. The board is going to have
a table down there talking about the levee, but also
having some fun Bigfoot themed giveaways. So stop by the
(05:13):
Loudville Bigfoot Festival on the twentieth of September see us
learn about the levee, and I do believe we may
have a special guest there that you can get a
photo with. I don't want to say more than that.
You'll have to stop by and see. Eight days after that,
the last Sunday in September is Suicide Prevention and Awareness Walk.
(05:34):
That's a walk we've been doing for several years now.
The attendance continues to grow. Sign Up is already available.
You can go to our website again, that's Ashland MHRB
dot org sign up for the walk, rain or shine.
We will walk a little over a mile. We start
at the Communications Center at Ashland and we end there.
We have plenty of vendors with information set up. We
(05:57):
also have a light meal after the walk over. We've
got several great speakers to talk about their experiences, their journey.
We know likely we all know somebody that may have
died by suicide. We all are impacted when we lose
somebody to suicide. That's a very important event. Like I say,
(06:17):
I'm so encouraged that attendance has been growing every year
for this event. So please join us on Sunday the
twenty eighth at two o'clock. That starts. You can again
register of all these things by going to our website
Suicide Prevention and Awareness Walk on the twenty eighth, and
then right after that, I know I'm already tired. The
Loutonville Street Fair starts on the thirtieth, runs through the
(06:40):
fourth and we'll be down there. We'll have a booth,
we'll have our giveaways. Hopefully we'll still have some animals left.
I don't want to neglect our folks down in South County,
so stop by our booth at the loud Mill Street Fair.
Will be there every day talking about the levee, talking
about all the great services that the Board funds, and
again have some fun giveaways last but not Lee's. And
this is not all the stuff, folks, This is just
(07:03):
the main things that are coming up. On the twenty
second of October ten twenty two, the Board's annual luncheon
again over at Convo. This is where we talk about
all the services that have occurred through the past year.
We give you some of the hard numbers on those served,
as well as expenses and revenues. But also special guest speaker,
(07:26):
Superintendent Vashion City Schools mister Paramore is going to be
our keynote for the talk and for the event, so
annual Luncheon ten twenty two. There is food involved and
I think you'll find that both educational informative, but also
we try to have fun at our luncheon and that
(07:46):
starts at noon on the twenty second. Now, I know
some of you will want to get involved and we
need your help. That could be distributing signs or materials
around town, maybe even writing letters. Just give us a
call at the Board four one nine, two eight one
three one three nine if you wanted to get involved
(08:08):
with supporting the levee as you can, and that could
be as simple as putting a sign up either at
your business or as your home, and we we have
I think we have enough signs to give out to
everybody that's going to want one. I'd be thrilled if
we run out because we have so many folks interested
in a sign. So a few things to know about
(08:29):
the levee. Some of the I can't go through everything,
but I wanted to highlight a few things. Again. More
the information is on our website and I'll get to
that here in a second. But some of the main
things for you to know. It's a replacement levee, and
what that means is we were not changing the millage.
It's still a one mill levee. It's we're not changing
the purpose of the levee. It continues to be for
(08:49):
mental health and substance use services for folks in Ashland County.
We did change the term. It's instead of a five years,
a ten year, and we did that for a couple
of reasons. We hope that it gives folks more predictability.
Having to go on every five years, a potential change
every five years. I think some folks found annoying and
(09:10):
I understand that, and I think we all like more predictability.
It also helps with the programs and the services that
we fund with the levee. Sometimes with the workforce challenges,
individuals are less inclined to want to work on a
levee that has a five year lifespan versus a ten
year So we're hoping that it will help that way,
(09:31):
and quite frankly, it saves money because it takes time
and effort to run these levee campaigns and we'd rather
do that every ten rather than every five years. Something
else that folks need to know, it'll cost the owner.
And a lot of folks ask me this question, how
much will it cost me to It costs the owner
of one hundred thousand dollars home thirty five dollars per year. Now,
(09:52):
that is thirteen dollars and sixty nine cents more than
you're currently paying. And that comes to about a dollar
fourteen cents a month increase, So thirty five dollars for
the entire year or an additional one dollar and fourteen
cents a month. And what do you get with that?
You get our critical services like the school community Liaison program.
(10:13):
This is a service that the board's been providing for
over twenty five years. It's hard to believe that, and
it is really if you've got a son, daughter, grandson,
granddaughter in our school system in nash County, that program
is in all the schools, It serves all the grades.
It really is a unique program. And if it wasn't
funded by the Levee, which it is almost entirely, we
(10:36):
wouldn't be able to have it. Quite frankly, it wouldn't
have the outcomes and the success it did. Levee funds.
Local levy funds give the board in the agencies that
we fund with those dollars the most flexibility to design
and implement programming so that it meets the local needs
in the best way. So, for example, with a liaison program,
there's very minimal paperwork. If a young person needs help
(10:59):
or a family needs help, they say I need help,
they get the help same day, not a bunch of
hoops to jump through, no income eligibility or verification. You
need help, you get help. That's one of the things
we love about levy funded services. As long as you're
in Nashal County resident, you're gonna get the help. The
Levey also funds critical services for our seniors. I've been
on a speaking tour of what we call our Golden
(11:21):
Centers throughout town. These are groups of seniors that meet
regularly to hear information, They interact with each other, they
have a good time, they usually have a meal, and
it's so critical for all of us, but particularly for
our seniors to be engaged, active, interacting, connecting with each
other and not isolating. It's great for their mental and
(11:43):
motional health, but it's also great for their physical health.
So we do fund services for seniors. And lastly, another
service in the schools prevention services alcohol, tobacco, other drugs.
All those prevention services are covered in our schools in
an age appropriate way. I just had the prevention goals
on the last episode of the podcast. Listen to that one.
(12:05):
It's always one of our most popular episodes. That they're
doing great work. There's four of them, there are all
the school districts here in Ashland County. Again, another critical
program that affects thousands of folks. Couldn't do it without
our levy. One thing I'll mention before I move on.
Some folks don't. Maybe you've heard that expression safety net. Well,
(12:26):
the board is the safety Net funder for Mental health,
substance youthse services. So What I mean by that is
not everybody has good insurance or insurance at all, or
the ability to pay for mental health or substance you
use services. It can be pricey if you don't have
insurance or an ability to pay out a pocket. So
the board pays for those folks that don't have insurances
or abilities to pay. So that's what I mean by
(12:48):
safety net. I don't want anybody listening to feel like
you or somebody you care about can't get services because
of a lack of funds. We will find a way
to get those services covered. That is what the Levey
allows us to do, and that's why it's so vital
and critical. Where should I go to get more information
about the levee, Well, I'm glad to ask continue the
(13:10):
Carrying dot Com. We set up that website because continue
the Carrying is our tagline for the levee this year.
So continue Thecarrying dot Com. If you type that in,
you will go to what we call our Levey Landing page,
and it's got all the information I talked about and more.
It's got videos, it's got some of our public service
announcements about the levee that our own Levey Chair doctor
(13:34):
mackelfresh has done continue the carrying dot com. I'll put
that in the episode description, as well as information about
a lot of the other events I talked about. That's
probably the best way, most comprehensive way to get information.
But if for some reason it doesn't work or it
doesn't provide you with the kind of information you're looking for,
please I love talking about the Levey. I love talking
(13:54):
about what the Board does. I love talking about our
services and our agencies. Give me a holler four one
nine two eight one three one three nine. Always happy
to talk about any of the things that the Board
is doing. Also, just stop by the Board offices. We
are at sixteen oh five County wrote ten ninety five
for some of you that may not know Mifflin Avenue.
(14:15):
Once you cross over forty two it turns into ten
ninety five, So come on out. You can pick up
your sign here at the office, and if you need
us to deliver a sign, maybe transportations a barrier. You
still want to sign, you can call us or we
actually on that continuethcarying dot com website. There's a place
if you put in your address, we'll deliver the sign
(14:36):
to you. So we just want you to have it
if you want it. We try to make that as
easy as we could. So there you go. That is
almost sixteen minutes of pure Levey talk. So I will
add a lot of details in the episode description for
those of you that might be listening while you're doing
other things and couldn't jot down all the information. But
(14:56):
first and foremost will be our Levy kickoff on the tenth.
I would love to meet you in person. I can
sign your Levey T shirt, which will also have available
or not or not, I don't want to ruin your
Levee T shirt. Which are really fun T shirts. I
can't give away what they look like, but they're really cute.
So join us on the tenth at eight thirty Upper
(15:18):
Conbo for our Levey kickoff. And again I appreciate you
all your support of the Board's work in our community.
Thank you for listening to another episode of the Keeping
Ashland Healthy podcast. The podcast is a production of the
Mental Health and Recovery Board of Ashland County, Ohio. You
can reach the Board by calling four one nine two
eight one three one three nine. Please remember that the
(15:40):
Board funds a local twenty four to seven Crisis Line
through Applese Community Mental Health Center. It can be reached
by calling four one nine two eight nine sixty one
one one. That's four one nine two eight nine sixty
one one one. Until next time. Please join us in
keeping Ashland healthy