April 2011

Dear Friend of the CATS Community,

Sue Centner

It is with great sadness that I convey the news of Dale Childs's passing on April 2nd. Dale was a Board member of the Community Alliance for many years. Dale's life was dedicated to the service of youth and families in need. She will be greatly missed.

Please mark your calendars for the 2nd Nationwide DEA Prescription Drug Take Back on Saturday, April 30th.  CATS will be helping the Derry Police Department collect unused and expired medications at Hood Commons.  Look for the Derry Mobile Command Center by the Cryrsal Avenue entrance.

Does your employer have a policy for using cell phones while driving on company time?  What about your family?  Do you have a policy for using cell phones while driving any time?  Check out our driving safety resources to learn more about creating a policy to keep everyone safe.

Thank you for your continued interest in and support for CATS.  Please contact us if you have questions or would like to get involved.

Stay informed and stay active! 

Best regards, Sue 

Gus Gizmo is busy today. Of course, he is busy every day. But, hey, no problem - Gus has all the lat­est toys to help him do eight things at once. His pride and joy is the newest cell phone on the mar­ket. He has a global positioning system (GPS) that gives him directions to his next stop, a hands-free device so he can talk on the phone and keep his hands on the wheel and also check and respond to e-mails. It includes easy Internet access so he can take care of mundane business such as paying bills during his long commute.

What are the odds Gus will get in a crash today while he's multitasking his way down a busy road? While talking on the phone, his odds are actually four times greater and it doesn't matter that he's using a hands-free device. The risks of talking and crashing are similar to those of using a handheld phone. His odds of crashing while e-mailing and paying bills are much, much higher. In fact, fatal crashes have happened when adult working drivers were doing exactly that - it's not just text mes­saging teens who are at risk.

Gus is one of the millions of drivers who have the high-tech tools enabling him to be on the road and in the office at the same time. This is a group of drivers safety experts and employers have been very worried about. Gus's gizmos are distracting him from driving his vehicle safely. They are:

1. Taking his eyes off the road-a visual distraction
2. Taking his mind off the road-a cognitive distraction
3. Taking his hands off the wheel-a manual distraction

Gus has either forgotten or is unaware that driving requires his full attention to the road and its pos­sible hazards. While he's looking away from the road for three seconds and driving 45 mph, he's traveling two-thirds the length of a football field. Think about the unexpected driving dangers that can happen while driving the length of a few football fields without paying attention.

Driving is a risky activity. Each year, about 40,000 people are killed in motor vehicle crashes and more than 3 million people are injured. The National Highway Traffic Safety Administration reports that driver distraction is involved in 16 percent of fatal crashes. The National Safety Council estimates that 25 percent of all crashes are due to talking on cell phones while driving and another 3 percent are due to texting.

A national telephone survey conducted in August 2008 shows distracted driving has become an in­creasingly dangerous trend. Nearly all drivers-94 percent-reported engaging in potentially distract­ing activities while driving. Additionally, 39 percent of the respondents reported they primarily used their cell phones for work-related purposes. These survey results highlight the need for increased involvement from employers, who often bear the costs when an employee is involved in a traffic crash.

Source: National Safety Council 

 Alcohol Awareness Month is an opportunity to raise awareness of alcohol abuse and encourage people to make healthy, safe choices.

Warning Signs of Alcohol Abuse

If you answer "yes" to any of the following questions, you may have a problem with alcohol:

• Do you drink alone when you feel angry or sad?
• Does your drinking ever make you late for work?
• Does your drinking worry your family?
• Do you ever drink after telling yourself you won't?
• Do you ever forget what you did while drinking?
• Do you get headaches or have a hangover after drinking?

 How to Cut Down on Your Drinking

Strategies to Cut Back or Quit Drinking

There are many strategies you can try to cut back or quit drinking. To get started:

• Keep track of your drinking and set a drinking limit.
• Try to avoid places where heavy drinking occurs.
• Ask for help from a doctor, family, or friends.
• If you keep alcohol in your home, keep only a limited supply.

Source: US Department of Health & Human Services

Keeping Kids Safe

 "Off label" use of prescription drugs is rapidly becoming an epidemic among young people in America. And this has real consequences for their health and academic performance: the CDC found that students engaging in off label prescription drug use were over three times more likely to get D's and F's than they were to get A's. Adults have to take a lot of the blame here. Too often we leave prescription drugs where any young person can get them, even when we no longer need them. The smarter thing to do is to put them somewhere safe when we are using them, and then to dispose of them when we no longer need them.

This spring, the Drug Enforcement Administration and its national and community partners will give the public another opportunity to prevent pill abuse and theft by ridding their homes of potentially dangerous expired, unused, and unwanted prescription drugs. On Saturday, April 30th, 2011 from 10 a.m. to 2 p.m. local time, DEA and its partners will hold their second National Prescription Drug Take-Back Day at sites nationwide. The service is free and anonymous, no questions asked. Last September, Americans turned in over 242,000 pounds-121 tons-of prescription drugs at nearly 4,100 sites operated by more than 3,000 of the DEA's state and local law enforcement partners. The agency hopes to collect even more this spring. I've got news for everyone--those child proof caps don't work on anybody above the age of, say, two. Let's get serious about putting prescription drugs out of the reach of young people.