PURPOSE AND HISTORY OF DAPCAT - Prevention/Education/Awareness

DAPCAT was formed in the fall of 2004, the result of concerned physicians contacting the Union County Commissioners for help with the growing incidence of drug abuse in their patients.  They wanted to know the resources available in Union County and the surrounding area to help their patients.  One unique aspect of this group is the continuing involvement of physicians.

In 2005, we established a steering committee of volunteers who meet four times a year to plan and oversee projects; we created a mission statement and goals; set up an office in the Union County Government Center with email/phone/fax; conducted research which revealed that 25% of the county budget of $3 million is spent on drug/alcohol related problems; ordered boxes of free educational materials and made them available to the public.

In 2006, we held three community forums to identify problems and solutions; one at the Union County Government Center with Union County government employees/interested citizens/parents/students/school district reps/community organizations/hospitals; one at Lewisburg High School and one at Mifflinburg High School.  At these forums, the county’s drug and alcohol problems were identified and solutions were suggested.  Each attendee then had five votes to give to what they thought were the most pressing problems and what were perceived to be the best solutions. Establishing a drug court received the most votes and was identified as the number one solution to explore in Union County.  One of our volunteers, Dr. Don Stechschulte, has been appointed to the newly formed Criminal Justice Advisory Board, one task of which is to create a drug court.  Our next project will be alternative activities for youth and help for parents.

In 2007, we developed presentations and started a speaker’s bureau, with speakers available to local organizations and groups; and we purchased the HBO series on addiction and held community screenings/discussion groups.  We assisted a local teacher to run a program to train parents on how to “Drug Proof Your Kids.”

In 2008, we encouraged the formation of a Teen Empowerment Committee to create alternative activities for youth.  They created an open group TEC on Facebook which now has 125 members.  In conjunction with TEC, we held a series of events during the year:  the Ard Rock Café on Tuesday nights, Rock the Block party in Hufnagle Park, a battle of the bands at Ard’s, etc.  We also created a website:  www.dapcat.org for the public to access information on treatment programs, research, minutes of our meetings, teen events, useful links, links for young children and senior citizens, links for the medical community, etc.

Union County DAPCAT, Union County Government Center 155 N 15^th St. Lewisburg, PA 17837 Phone: 570-524-5219