Saturday’s Prescription Drug Take Back event provides opportunity to discard unused medication

Wilmington – Delaware Attorney General Beau Biden urged Delawareans to take advantage of statewide Prescription Drug Take Back locations on Saturday, September 29 to safely get rid of their surplus prescription medication. Three locations will be operated by the Attorney General’s Office.

“Prescription drug abuse is dangerous and destructive to families and communities,” Biden said. “But every household has the ability to fight abuse by properly disposing of unused or unwanted medications and keeping those powerful drugs out of the wrong hands.”

On Saturday, the Attorney General’s Medicaid Fraud Unit is operating three collection sites from 10:00 a.m. to 2:00 p.m.:

• Wilmington: Shipley Manor – 2723 Shipley Road
• Dover: Heritage at Dover – 1203 Walker Road, Dover
• Rehoboth Beach: Beebe Tunnell Cancer Center – 18947 John J. Williams Highway
State, local and federal authorities are operating 26 additional sites throughout Delaware. A full list of collection locations can be found at: http://dhss.delaware.gov/dph/hsp/files/hhdrugtakebacklist.pdf

Though a recent report indicated a slight reduction in prescription drug abuse among young adults, the threat posed by prescription drug abuse remains severe:

• The National Institute on Drug Abuse (NIDA) found that prescriptions for opioids (pain medication such as Oxycontin, Percocet and Vicodin) dispensed by U.S. retail pharmacies have increased by 60 percent between 2000 and 2010 (from 131 million to 210 million) and have nearly tripled from 1991 to 2010 (from 76 million to 210 million).
• Each day for the past 10 years, about 6,000 Americans start abusing prescription drugs, according to the federal Substance Abuse and Mental Health Services Administration. Last year, more than 1 in 3 of those Americans were under the age of 18.
• In 2010, about 1 in 12 high school seniors told NIDA researchers that they had abused Vicodin in the past year and 1 in 20 reported taking OxyContin for nonmedical use, which the Institute says makes these drugs among the most frequently abused by teenagers.
• In 2007, for the first time, more people died from accidentally overdosing on prescription drugs than from accidentally overdosing on narcotics like heroin and cocaine. That year, according to the U.S. Centers for Disease Control, 27,000 Americans died from accidentally overdosing on prescription drugs, or one death every 19 minutes.

# # #

New Delaware-specific service lets users list and search housing in the First State for free

Dover, DE (September 28, 2012) – Governor Jack Markell, Delaware State Housing Authority, and their partners are pleased to announce the launch of a free housing locator website providing information about rental housing across the First State. DelawareHousingSearch.org – a web-based service supported by a toll-free, bilingual call center – lets landlords advertise properties free of charge, while renters can search for free to find rentals that fit their needs. The service was publicly announced today during a launch event led by Governor Markell and is funded through a partnership between DSHA, the Department of Health and Social Services, New Castle County, the City of Wilmington, Sussex County, the Delaware Apartment Association, and the United Way of Delaware.

 “Access to affordable housing is critical to our economy and to the strength of our communities,” said Governor Jack Markell. “We believe this service will help Delaware residents find the rental housing they need within their budget, within their time frame, and in the community where they want to live.”

DelawareHousingSearch.org offers a wide range of property listings, including private market and assisted housing. Prospective tenants can search for housing according to specific needs, such as proximity to medical facilities, public transit, and schools. An accessible housing search helps locate units with accommodations such as no-step entry and accessible kitchen and bathroom features. Listings can be sorted by rent amount, ZIP Code, date available, and other key factors to make searching even easier.

 DelawareHousingSearch.org offers landlords 24-hour access to adding and updating their free property listings. Listings can highlight amenities in great detail and include photos.

 “We’re excited about the ability of this service to connect our residents to housing opportunities,” commented DSHA Director Anas Ben Addi. “We encourage property providers to take advantage of the free advertising and list vacancies on DelawareHousingSearch.org to help make this service as useful as possible to all Delawareans.”

 “For people with disabilities, that are moving from institutions back to their communities, or remaining in their communities, the largest barrier has often been the lack of available, affordable, accessible housing,” said Daniese McMullen-Powell, Money Follows the Person Outreach and Housing Administrator. “DelawareHousingSearch.org, offers a means to search for available housing opportunities that best match individual affordability and needs.”

 DelawareHousingSearch.org is powered by Socialserve.com, a 501(c)(3) not-for-profit dedicated to serving the affordable housing needs of communities. Delaware joins an ever-growing network of regions using Socialserve.com that currently spans 32 states.

 Residents can search and list on www.DelawareHousingSearch.org online 24 hours a day or call a toll-free, bilingual call center for assistance: 1-877-428-8844, Monday through Friday, 9 a.m. to 8 p.m. Eastern Time.

WILMINGTON –Surrounded by state officials and advocates, Governor Jack Markell proclaimed October as Domestic Violence Awareness Month in Delaware.

 “This proclamation hopefully draws awareness to an issue that merits our attention year-round,” said Governor Jack Markell. “We must be vigilant and supportive every day of those around us to ensure they are safe and free from abuse.”  

 Delaware created the Domestic Violence Coordinating Council to improve the state’s response to domestic violence.  The council brings together domestic violence service providers and policy level officials to identify and implement improvements in system response through legislation, education and policies.

 “Domestic violence has impacts that ripple throughout society,” said Senate Majority Leader Patricia Blevins, D-Elsmere, who has been at the forefront of efforts to protect victims of domestic violence and is the chair of the DVCC. “While combating domestic violence is a year round job, this month gives us an opportunity to put a spotlight on it and to remind people, dealing with this threat to their safety and the safety of their families, that there are laws to protect them and help available to them so they can break the grip domestic violence has on their lives.

 Added Carol Post, the executive director of the Delaware Coalition Against Domestic Violence: “Domestic Violence Awareness Month gives us the opportunity to highlight all the great work being done in Delaware by both government agencies and nonprofit organizations to protect victims of domestic violence and their children, hold abusive partners responsible for the violence and engage in prevention efforts aimed at ending the violence once and for all.”

 Attorney General Beau Biden, whose office has worked with Sen. Blevins and other legislators on several bills that increased protections for victims of domestic violence, noted that work of the DVCC and other groups have ‘shone a bright light’ on the problem of domestic violence.

 “Domestic Violence Awareness Month sends a clear message that this country does not tolerate violence against women,” Biden said. “Incidents of domestic violence have dropped more than 50 percent nationally since Congress first passed the Violence Against Women Act in 1994, but we still have a lot of work to do. Every day, three women are killed abusive husbands or partners. Congress should reauthorize VAWA as soon as possible so that the bright light keeps shining for the millions of women and families still in the darkness.”

 Last year the state’s Department of Correction created a Victim Services Unit to assist victims and survivors in becoming both informed and involved so that they may experience less frustration and trauma with prison and probation personnel and be better prepared to participate in the corrections process if they choose. The DOC’s Victim Services Unit phone number, which is staffed during regular business hours Monday through Friday, is (302) 857-5440.

 “Proclaiming October as Domestic Violence Awareness Month provides an opportunity to raise the issue of domestic violence to the forefront of discussion and provide much-needed support to victims of a crime that affects people regardless of their age, ethnicity or economic status,” said DOC Commissioner Carl Danberg, who is also the vice-chair of the DVCC. “The fact that one in every four women will experience domestic violence in her lifetime is a staggering indicator of how widespread this crime is within our communities. May we use this month’s opportunity of increased awareness to educate and then start working toward ending this violence.”

 24-hour Domestic Violence Hotlines 
New Castle County 302.762-6110
Kent and Sussex Counties 302.422.8058
Bilingual Kent and Sussex 302.745-9874

Photos from this event are available on Flickr.

DOVER – In his weekly message, taped at the Kent County Economic Summit, the Governor talks about growing Delaware’s economy and Delaware’s small businesses.

“Businesspeople that are here know, as I do, that every job matters.  With public input, we are taking a statewide look at regulations that might be standing in the way of our success,”  said Governor Jack Markell.  “We want to keep our progress going, and we want to keep our state’s economy growing. We still have a long way to go and much work ahead of us but we are headed in the right direction. Here in Delaware, to achieve our goal of being the number one state for small business, we must continue to work together to keep Delaware moving forward.”

At noon every Friday, the Governor’s office releases a new Weekly Message in video, audio, and transcript form.  The message is available on:

YouTube: http://youtu.be/qGlFrbKOg_o
Delaware.Gov: http://governor.delaware.gov/information/podcast_video.shtml
By email: Please contact our press team to subscribe to our press list
Facebook: www.facebook.com/governormarkell
Twitter: www.twitter.com/governormarkell

Transcript of the Governor’s Weekly Message: Moving our economy forward.

This week and every week we focus on our economy and our future.   Here in Delaware and across the country we’re still dealing with the effects of the economic freefall of 2008 and 2009.  We lost tens of thousands of jobs, faced the largest single budget shortfall in state history.  Our economy was headed in very much the wrong direction and we needed to turn things around.  And with your help, we have.  We still have a long way to go and much work ahead of us but we are headed in the right direction.

At this Kent County Economic Summit, we were able to talk about some of the successes we’ve seen, like bringing down municipal electric rates, and making our incorporated towns more appealing to existing and future employers.  We want to keep our progress going, and we want to keep our state’s economy growing.  Businesspeople that are here know, as I do, that every job matters.  They know that in Delaware, we are small enough to be personal, big enough to be bold and wise enough to know that we can’t do it alone.

With public input,  we are taking a statewide look at regulations that might be standing in the way of our success.  If you see one that might be in your way, we want you to tell us.   A national business group was nice enough to say recently that our administration is “great for small business” but we need to live up to that every single day and we need to get better.  The challenges we face and the choices we make are in some ways very similar to those facing millions of Americans.     When faced with obstacles, generation after generation embraced new technology across the country.  They’ve seized new opportunities and they challenged themselves and the world.   Here in Delaware, to achieve our goal of being the number one state for small business, we must continue to work together to keep Delaware moving forward.