Help young people grow up healthy
season 2 Episode 1: Preventing youth Addiction
SOLUTION:
The best ways to prevent young people from getting addicted don’t necessarily focus on the drugs themselves (forget “Just say no.”) Research shows the more young people are surrounded by risky environments, including stress, poverty, and violence, the more likely they’ll get addicted. But other factors in their environment can protect young people and stand in the way of addiction, such as mentors, clear limits and expectations at home, and supportive communities and schools.
STORY:
The community of Bellingham, Washington, near the U.S.-Canada border finds that the more people focus on strengthening communities and families, the better young people are at staying away from tobacco, alcohol, and other drugs. Data shows it’s making a dent.
We meet soccer moms and dads, and hear from young people themselves, including an outspoken group of eighth-graders and their mentor, Chelsea.
LINKS TO MORE INFORMATION AND RESOURCES:
If you want help finding local drug treatment, support groups, or organizations in your community for yourself or someone else, you can call 1-800-662-HELP (4357) and speak with someone at the national helpline run by SAMHSA, the Substance Abuse and Mental Health Services Administration. It’s free, confidential, and open 24 hours a day/365 days a year, available in English and Spanish. More information here.
Tips for talking to young people about alcohol here.
Tips to find drugs a young person may have stashed in their room here.
Guidance about starting and implementing prevention programs in your community here.
TRANSCRIPT
Anna Boiko-Weyrauch: This is Season Two of Finding Fixes, a podcast about solutions to the opioid epidemic. I’m Anna Boiko-Weyrauch.
Over the next eight episodes, we’re going to walk through different solutions to the opioid epidemic, very systematically—from prevention, to treatment, to harm reduction.
First, How can we prevent people from getting hooked on opioids?
Linda Hargrove: I was in the hospital maybe, hm, about three weeks but in that time I was on pain medication, and I grew dependent.
Justina: I actually was prescribed my prescription medication, started taking more than prescribed and graduated to using heroin.
Boiko-Weyrauch: We’re going to talk about pain—especially chronic pain. What’s the best way to treat it?
Michelle Decamp: I think it's accepting the fear, accepting the pain and then seeing where that leads you, changed my perception of it a lot.
Mary Leyden: Instead of being like focused on my pain all the time I'm sort of focused on everything else and then, oh there's pain in the background but it's in the background it's not in the foreground.
Boiko-Weyrauch: This season, we’re looking at new ways to expand access to drug treatment —with emergency room professionals leading the way
Boiko-Weyrauch: Before you said the traditional way of doing things was very disheartening. How do you feel now about it?
Huynh Chhor: Very hopeful. I haven't felt this way—like this good—in a long time.
Boiko-Weyrauch: Plus—an unlikely place some mothers turned to for support.
Henriet: Suddenly, one day you wake up and your child is the opposite of anything you'd ever imagined has become a criminal, an addict, a liar, a thief—so our shared experience in so many ways was, “How did we get here? How did this even happen to us?”
Boiko-Weyrauch: Stories of discovery, hope, solutions and more—over the next eight episodes of Finding Fixes.
This episode, episode 1, we’re starting at the beginning.
Adolescence is an age where many people try drugs and alcohol. It can be harmless, but the earlier young people start using substances, the more dangerous it can be.
On this episode…How can we prevent young people from getting hooked on opioids?
(Clapping and cheering)
We’re going to a community that’s made progress on this: Bellingham, Washington. We want to learn how they did it.
Soccer spectator: There you go, Eddie! There you go Eddie!
Boiko-Weyrauch: The best place to see this community is Saturday morning at the soccer fields. Bright sunshine, wispy clouds. Ten and eleven year olds in jerseys running around on a large field.
Families watch from the sidelines
Bellingham is a city of 90-thousand people near the Canadian border. It’s got a hippie bent, surrounded by fields, mountains, and coast line.
Over the past decade, data from the state of Washington show this community made it more likely for kids to grow up healthy, by reducing how many high schoolers drink alcohol, smoke cigarettes and misuse prescription painkillers to get high.
But talking to parents, I learned that opioids are still a concern
Amber O'Donnell: It's on my mind a lot.
Boiko-Weyrauch: Amber O’Donnell is sitting on a lawn chair next to one soccer match. She says drugs come up every time she gets together with her friends.
O'Donnell: One of my closest friends has a 20-year-old. And then because I have a 17-year-old it's just, you know, we always say, “How's your son doing?” “How's your son doing?” And then eventually gets to, “I hope they manage to not fall victim to that.”
Boiko-Weyrauch: It makes sense for all of us to worry about young people and opioids.
According to the Substance Abuse and Mental Health Services Administration, 90 percent of people who are addicted to a substance started smoking, drinking or using other drugs before their 18th birthday. Teens who do drink or smoke are also at higher risk of misusing opioid painkillers.
I wanted to hear the perspective of young people too. Amber’s youngest son, Caiden is sitting next to her. He’s eleven. I ask him what being that age is like.
Caiden: I feel like I just kind of like where I am in my life right now. I don't have to worry about a lot. I don't have to worry about things like homework or like money and stuff like that. And I'm just kind of thankful for that.
Boiko-Weyrauch: Still he has more responsibility than he used to. Like making decisions about how to act.
Caiden: Should I do a good thing or a bad thing that I think is OK but maybe other people might not think is OK. Like at school when me and my friends are just kind of joking around like should I say something mean or say something like good, positive?
Boiko-Weyrauch: How do you figure out what to do in that situation?
Caiden: I just think about what people will think of me if I do something bad or something good because I want to keep a good positive reputation.
Boiko-Weyrauch: Yeah. And reputation is pretty important, huh?
Caiden: Um-hm. Yeah, it's kind of like sets out what people think of you like the rest of your life.
Boiko-Weyrauch: At this age, reputation is key. This is the time kids start to care more about the opinion of their peers.
Starting next year, Caiden will enter what researchers say is a critical period in his life when it comes to drugs and alcohol. Like all pre-teens and teens, changes in his brain put him at risk.
We’ll come back to that soccer field in a second and spend some more time in Bellingham.
First, one important point. When we talk about the opioid epidemic, what are we talking about exactly?
(Bathtub tap turning and water flowing)
Here’s an analogy: The opioid epidemic is like a large tub of water.
(Splashing and voices around a swimming pool)
Like a swimming pool. Think swim ropes, a lifeguard, the smell of chlorine.
This pool represents everyone using any kind of opioid—from heroin to prescription pills.
You get in the pool at the shallow end.
Robert Valuck: Once you take the first tablet, you’re in the very shallow end of the pool.
Boiko-Weyrauch: That’s Dr. Robert Valuck, he’s a pharmacy professor at the University of Colorado, and coordinates prescription drug abuse policy. He uses this analogy to educate people about the opioid epidemic.
He says, this opioid swimming pool is a lot like a real one—the shallow end is generally pretty safe, but not totally.
Valuck: You could with one dose, you know you step into that pool, you could slip, hit your head and you could drown, even in the very, very shallowest end of the pool.
Boiko-Weyrauch: But most likely you’ll be fine. Dr. Valuck says, if you stay in the pool, though, it gets riskier.
Valuck: Over more and more time, the more you’re exposed, more tablets, more days, you get deeper, and deeper, and deeper into this pool.
Boiko-Weyrauch: You start to drift down the length of the pool, from the shallow end, to the middle. That’s where people have been on opioids long enough that they begin to physically depend on the pills.
Valuck: If you take enough of an opioid for long enough, you are going to have physiological dependence, where if you stopped one day cold, you’re going to feel it.
Boiko-Weyrauch: You’d feel sick without the opioids—like the flu.
And say you keep taking opioids, you might develop other problems—maybe you lose control, and you can’t stop using pills or heroin even though it’s ruining your life.
That’s when you and other swimmers in the pool have reached the deep end. Addiction.
Valuck: They’re struggling just to try and keep their head above water and breathe.
Boiko-Weyrauch: Those swimmers could easily drown, which in this pool means overdosing and even dying.
Valuck: But there’s different places you can intervene.
Boiko-Weyrauch: It might seem dire, but this swimming pool can teach us some useful lessons about what to do to keep people safe.
Just like a real pool, you need ropes blocking the deep end, life preservers hung on the wall, and life guards to pull people out.
Valuck: I had kids, and when they were little I certainly wasn’t going to take them to the pool if there weren’t a whole lot of safety measures in place. All those things would be in place.
Boiko-Weyrauch: Just one safety measure is not enough. The same goes for the opioid epidemic.
There’s not one solution to the opioid epidemic, not one way to keep people safe, there are a lot.
This season we’re going to travel through this swimming pool analogy. Each episode we’re going to look at how to help people at each step along the way.
We’re starting with kids because they're at such high risk. The younger people start getting into substances, the more likely they are to become addicted.
In this episode, how do we keep kids out of the pool?
OK, now back to the soccer field in Bellingham.
Jonathon Sims is watching his 11 year old son play soccer.
Boiko-Weyrauch: Is this a pretty. What's that sound by the way?
Jonathon Sims: Gun range. Gun range is right...there.
Boiko-Weyrauch: OK. The gun range is right next to the soccer park.
Sims: Direct—exactly next to it. Yes.
Boiko-Weyrauch: OK.
Sims: It's funny you had to mention it because I've been playing and a referee out here for what 20 years. I don't even hear it anymore.
Boiko-Weyrauch: Jonathon’s other son, a 14 year old, is sitting on a chair behind me. Tonight the family is going to see the Sounders, a pro soccer team, play. The older one is staying home and that’s OK. He’s getting more independent.
Sims: That part of them getting older is nice. The youngest is still part, you know, we'll hang out and watch TV together we'll do things he's like, “Yeah, I want to go the Sounders game.” the other one's like, “Meh.” And I know he's going to play video games all day because that's what he does.
Boiko-Weyrauch: Of course, ask the 14 year old Xander, he tells it differently.
Xander Sims: I'm gonna work on my my English paper and then I'm gonna clean my room and do some biology homework.
Boiko-Weyrauch: Really? On a Saturday evening, Saturday afternoon?
Xander: Yeah. And then once I finish all those things— oh, and then I have to help my grandma.
Boiko-Weyrauch: But then after that, he says he’ll probably hang out with friends and definitely play video games.
Jonathon says he trusts his sons—they haven’t had any issues.
I asked Xander about reputation.
Boiko-Weyrauch: How much do you worry about what your friends think of you?
Xander: I worry less about what my close friends think about me and more about like what random people think about me more. Just like people that I see at school. I guess more of acquaintances than people that I know well.
Boiko-Weyrauch: What do you want them to think about you?
Xander: I want them to think that I am a good person. That I—I'm not stupid. That I'd be someone that would be cool to hang out with.
Boiko-Weyrauch: And how do you feel when you when you look at yourself, how do you see yourself?
Xander: I see myself as kind of like a—kind of a weird person. And I don't feel like I'm really normal. Or like what everybody else thinks is normal.
Boiko-Weyrauch: These are rough feelings to grapple with. Inside feeling weird, but showing people outside that you’d be cool to hang out with.
Boiko-Weyrauch: What do you think people ought to know about growing up, about being 14? You know, what do you think people just don't get that they ought to understand?
Xander: It's very stressful. And it’s a lot of new things that I don't have experience in yet. And it just makes it kind of hard.
Boiko-Weyrauch: If we could peer into his brain we’d probably see a ton of development going on. Teens’ brains change dramatically. Especially in a few key areas—places that have to do with impulse control and decision making. At the same time, their brains are more sensitive to feelings of pleasure or reward. Those good feelings reinforce behavior. Their brains learn quickly—“Hey, that was great. Let’s do it again.” When it comes to drugs and alcohol, those lessons can lead to addiction.
Then, zoom out from the brain for a second. What’s happening around a young person plays a role, too. Especially, their peers. Getting bullied, being a bully, or wanting to be popular can influence whether young people drink or take drugs.
Being a teen can be hard. That’s good for adults to keep in mind. This is the backdrop for prevention.
It’s important to understand what’s going on with teens to understand how to prevent them from getting hooked on drugs and alcohol.
About ten years ago, Bellingham, Washington was not the healthiest place for teens.
Fast-forward a decade. A few key indicators plummeted, in a good way.
According to surveys from 2018, half as many high school sophomores said they used prescription painkillers to get high—from eight percent down to four percent.
For alcohol, a third fewer said they binge drank recently—from 18 percent down to 12 percent of high school sophomores. And almost two thirds fewer said they smoked cigarettes—from 15 percent down to 6 percent.
Joe Fuller: We can't say any one thing has taken credit for it.
Boiko-Weyrauch: Joe Fuller oversees prevention programming for the Whatcom County Health Department. That’s the county Bellingham is in. I met him to learn the keys to preventing youth addiction in Bellingham.
Fuller: So we really try to make sure that we're doing a variety of things. Things in the community, among our families, in the schools.
Boiko-Weyrauch: Joe has been working on preventing young people from getting addicted to drugs and alcohol for about 25 years—since just after he was in high school.
Fuller: For myself, speaking personally, I've got a 6-year-old and a 10-year-old and we want to have a safe community for them to play in and to find their opportunities for what they're passionate about. So if we can just raise the whole community up so that everybody’s doing well that's going to be great. I know for me personally you know as a—as a father. But, you know, for everybody else's family as well.
Boiko-Weyrauch: Joe runs into a big misconception a lot on the job.
Fuller: Something that I hear in a lot of meetings I go to is, “What are we doing around opioids?” And you know five, 10 years ago it was, “Boy, meth is a real big problem.”
Boiko-Weyrauch: Whatcom county does have certain programs about opioids. But the point here is the core of effective prevention is about way more than the drug itself.
Fuller: Research really shows you shouldn't just focus on one drug specifically because when you're mitigating risk for for one drug you tend to be mitigating it for all drugs.
Boiko-Weyrauch: So instead of focusing on the specific drug, you focus on what’s putting kids at risk. The idea behind effective drug prevention is to reduce those risks and instead stack the odds in favor of kids growing up healthy.
Here, very quickly, are the nuts and bolts of youth drug prevention science. This stuff is so well established among public health researchers, I am astonished that I had no idea about it until I started doing stories about crime and drugs. Seems like most people don’t know about it either.
So here we go:
Back in 1992, three researchers at the University of Washington combed through a ton of research and put together a long list—seventeen items—their research showed were risk factors.
It includes things like, are drugs available in your community, do your friends use drugs and alcohol, does your family fight a lot?
Fuller: And so the more you have, logically the more at risk you are for using substances, having poor mental health and other problems down the line.
Boiko-Weyrauch: But wait. There’s hope. There’s another, second list that people like Joe turn to. This second list lays out what can keep young people healthy, what can protect them. That’s why they call it the protective factors list.
That list includes things the individual, family, school and community can do.
For example, parents keeping tabs on their children, schools condemning drug use, communities providing positive activities for young people, and opportunities to bond with positive role models.
Fuller: Really simple things like even knowing your neighbor is a protective factor.
Boiko-Weyrauch: Remember that pool analogy? These protective factors are ways to keep kids from getting in the opioid pool when they shouldn’t. Like adults supervising their kids, maybe putting up signs and a fence around the pool.
Joe says parents are more important than they think.
Fuller: We've seen through research that kids basically say parents are the biggest influence in their life whether or not to use substances. Unfortunately, parents often think that they have little-to-no influence.
Boiko-Weyrauch: Part of Whatcom County’s approach is helping adults exert their influence and create a supportive environment at home.
Voice on video: If you’re like most parents, you want the best for your children.
Boiko-Weyrauch: That’s the beginning of one video parents watch in the program Strengthening Families.
Video: You want them to get through the teen years without troubles with drugs and tobacco and alcohol
Boiko-Weyrauch: Parents who want to take part attend weekly workshops and learn how to create a home that’s not too strict and not too loose.
The program was originally developed by the University of Iowa and there’s a ton of evidence that shows it can help families create a better home environment.
To keep young people from drugs and alcohol, creating house rules is important, and so is how you enforce them. Here’s the video again.
Video: We have to help kids follow the rules without yelling, criticizing, or blaming. Because when we yell or criticize, kids can get down on themselves or become even more rebellious.
Boiko-Weyrauch: So, the program teaches something called “I statements” for parents to express their feelings and enforce the rules. The video uses actors.
Video: I feel frustrated when I see you watching TV before finishing your homework because homework is important. I want you to turn off the TV and start your math.
Boiko-Weyrauch: In follow-up surveys, parents who take the program say learning I statements was one of the most helpful parts of the program.
Parents also learn what to do if their child doesn’t listen, and how to discipline them effectively.
Drew Betz: We try to teach people—small penalties for small problems big penalties for big problems. Save those big penalties for when something really goes wrong.
Boiko-Weyrauch: Drew Betz brought the strengthening families program to Whatcom county in 2001.
Betz: A child may leave their clothes on the floor and they get slapped or they get yelled at or they get called a name because the parent is really put out and instead of using it as an opportunity for teaching, the parent punishes.
Boiko-Weyrauch: Parents also have to watch out for being too loose and not keeping tabs on their teens.
Betz: “You're going over to your friend's house? Fine, see you later.” You know, and not saying “What time will you be home? What number can I reach you at? I'd like to talk to their mother first.” So not really telling the child, “You're important enough for me to take care of.”
Boiko-Weyrauch: Parents learn about clearly communicating house rules around drugs and alcohol. And their kids learn skills to resist peer pressure.
This program boosts those protective factors we mentioned. Washington State University has done some surveys. Adults say their parenting improved after the program. Their rules about drug and alcohol use got clearer and tension in the house decreased 30 percent. The young people surveyed also say things got better at home.
Another point—teaching adults these skills can spillover in positive ways. They learn to use I statements and support other teens in the community—not just their family members.
Joe Fuller from the health department says sometimes those protective factors can work in surprising ways.
Fuller: What we also see through research is sometimes it only takes one connection with one healthy trusted adult to make a huge difference.
Boiko-Weyrauch: One connection with one healthy, trusted adult!
Fuller: Any situation where we can make sure that somebody doesn't feel isolated and they have somebody to go to and if their parents aren't the ones that they can go talk to or maybe their parents are actually the negative influence in their life, then that's where maybe a teacher or some other form of mentor becomes really critical to know that somebody is there for ‘em that they care for ‘em and that they have expectations for ‘em.
(Students walking and talking in a school hallway)
Boiko-Weyrauch: Bellingham schools are trying to build a lot of those trusted relationships. I saw that in action mid-May, 2019.
Fridays at noon, a group of eighth graders meets on the second floor of Shuksan middle school for lunch.
Miana Avila: My name's Miana Avila.
Perla Rodriguez: My name's Perla Rodriguez.
Esmerelda Alfaro: My name is Esmerelda Alfaro.
Layla Sanchez: Hi, my name's Layla Sanchez and I’m in eighth grade.
Boiko-Weyrauch: At lunch they eat chicken strips and spaghetti, take funny photos of each other, scroll through phones.
Chelsea Jimenez: So how's your week going?
Boiko-Weyrauch: And they talk with their mentor Chelsea.
Jimenez: What’s been going on this week that...
Boiko-Weyrauch: Chelsea Jimenez works for a nonprofit organization, called Communities in Schools, and her job is to support the students at this school. She gets to know them, helps them work through issues, even takes them on field trips.
At Friday lunch club their tradition is to share a rose and a thorn from their week—that’s a high point and a low point. Layla shares.
Sanchez: I'm worried about going to high school because it's soon. And then I don't have a rose.
Boiko-Weyrauch: Chelsea says, “what about your birthday coming up?”
Sanchez: And my birthday coming up tomorrow. Oh, and a poster I got from my friend.
Boiko-Weyrauch: Miana’s turn.
Avila: My my thorn is kind of like what Leila said high school but then also go into high school without my sister so that's hard. And then my rose is maybe seeing my sister this weekend and then also going to California this summer.
Jimenez: How come you won't be going to high school with your sister?
Avila: Cause a bunch of stuff happened like. She just doesn't want to live with us no more. So, yeah.
Jimenez: Your sister struggled a lot this year, right?
Avila: Yeah.
Jimenez: Must be hard to go into high school without her. But at the same time, Miana, you're so responsible. And you've always kind of been like the oldest child really. That—there's something in you—there's some resilience in you that does well and pushes hard even when you're up against obstacles, even when you don't have, you know, someone kind of carving the path for you. That's a good sign for high school.
Boiko-Weyrauch: Miana looks down at the table and rubs a manicured finger over the surface as Chelsea talks.
Other girls share roses and thorns. They talk about tests and the constitution.
Avila: Siri, what amendment is it so you can vote?
Siri: I found this on the web.
Boiko-Weyrauch: Pretty soon, it’s the next period. On their way out the door I ask the girls about Chelsea
Boiko-Weyrauch: Do you feel like you can trust Chelsea like she's an adult that you could go to if there was something wrong?
Avila: (Yeah) Hundred percent.
Sanchez: Maybe she's like mostly the number one person.
Rodriguez: She's not like a mom but like she's kind of like—
Alfaro: She’s like an older sister.
Rodriguez: Yeah, like yeah like an older sister, you can tell her things you wouldn't tell your mom.
Alfaro: Stuff like you wouldn't tell like your family but you would tell her.
Sanchez: Like you can always count on her to be by your side even if you're having a hard time. Or a rough day.
Boiko-Weyrauch: And would you guys say this even if she wasn't here?
Students together: Yes. OK. Yeah, I would. Yeah. Yeah.
Boiko-Weyrauch: Chelsea is standing just a few feet away, and she wipes off a tear. One girl gives her a hug.
The girls say they want to come back and visit Chelsea even when they’re in high school next year.
Rodriguez: Once a month get tacos and then ice cream.
Students talking quickly together: No—tacos—once a weeeek! No it's too much—Oh, ok, well then—
Boiko-Weyrauch: The girls make for the door.
(Students saying bye as they exit)
Boiko-Weyrauch: Chelsea explains her job is to help kids feel like they belong.
And guess what, bonding and feeling attached to school, the community, positive people—those are protective factors against drugs and other trouble.
Chelsea helps kids work through emotions—giving them healthy skills to cope.
Jimenez: I just do laps with kids when they're like super stressed and seem on edge.
Boiko-Weyrauch: Like you walk around the track?
Jimenez: Yeah. Walk around the track. Walk around the school do some deep breathing let them kind of process and de-escalate and then talk to them like, “How do you feel now that that's over with? And they're like, “Oh yeah, much better. I'm not going to punch a wall. I'm not going to swear at my teacher.” and I translate that as an adult to like, “I don't need a cigarette, I don't need that beer. I'm good.”
Boiko-Weyrauch: The school bell rings again—part of an intricate choreography of lunch schedules.
But, back to that pool analogy for a second—Chelsea is on the side of the pool, helping keep kids out—maybe she’s saying, let’s find something else for you to do rather than swim in this pool of opioids.
Chelsea got into this because she wanted to be like her mentor, Miss Knutson.
Jimenez: She always wanted to know how was I doing? What's new in my life? What's going on? “You're important to me. Tell me how you are.”
Boiko-Weyrauch: Chelsea says she was the kind of troubled kid who flew under the radar.
Jimenez: I wasn't really a student who came up for behavioral reasons like I wasn't in trouble, but I hung with a crowd that was getting involved with drinking and drugs at a young age, skipping school, stealing.
Boiko-Weyrauch: Without a mentor, Chelsea doesn’t know where she’d be.
Jimenez: Yeah, yeah. Yeah, it worries me.
Boiko-Weyrauch: Instead, Chelsea went to college—the first in her family to do so.
Now, it’s easy to see why eighth graders love her. She’s wearing a vintage dress and heels. She has a dog. She listens to podcasts. She’s cool.
Jimenez: I don't feel like the cool girl. But maybe that's what makes it easy for me to relate to kids. I'm not like I'm ashamed to say, like, that I'm a nerd.
Boiko-Weyrauch: The Whatcom county health department spends about one and a half million dollars a year on preventing cigarette, alcohol and drug use.
But if there’s a takeaway—news you can use part of the episode—it’s this. Prevention can be pretty Inexpensive.
Kate Foster currently runs the Strengthening Families program for Whatcom county. That’s the parenting skills class. Kate says, one effective strategy to keep young people from drugs and alcohol is setting aside some time with them.
Kate Foster: Asking them questions about what they care about, “What are you reading?” you know, “What are you listening to for music?” Sometimes we forget that we already have what we need in a big way to make those connections and to just witness who someone is and care about who they are right now, instead of who they're going to be or who they were or where they live or what they drive or what kind of phone they have. “Who are you? What makes you you? I want to see. I think you're interesting.”
Boiko-Weyrauch: Seeing teens and pre-teens, affirming that they are enough, just as they are. So they’re less likely to try and be someone else with drugs and alcohol.
(People talking in a delivery room)
On the next episode of Finding Fixes —
(Baby crying)
Sometimes the pain from childbirth doesn’t stop after the baby’s born. We look at managing acute pain without heavy narcotics.
Now, here are the two most influential people in my life, my parents, with the credits.
Karl Weyrauch: Finding Fixes is a project of Investigate West,
Patricia Boiko: a nonprofit journalism organization working in the public interest.
Weyrauch: Financial support comes from the Philadelphia Foundation,
Boiko: Moccasin Lake Foundation, us, Patricia Boiko
Weyrauch: and Karl Weyrauch
Boiko: and listeners like you.
Weyrauch: And if you’d like to join us and support this podcast, make a tax deductible donation at Finding Fixes Dot Com.
Boiko-Weyrauch: If you thought this episode was even mildly interesting, please share it with others or leave us a review on iTunes—I know every podcast says that—but it really does help other listeners find us. You can also email us at fixes AT finding fixes DOT com.
This episode was reported by me, Anna Boiko-Weyrauch, and produced by Nicolle Galteland and Kyle Norris. Alisa Barba is our editor. Music by Jake Weholt.
Boiko-Weyrauch: Thank you so much to everyone we interviewed for this episode.
Boiko and Weyrauch: And thank you so much for listening.