Rise Together

Program focuses on opioid addiction

By Holly Neumann

Their message is to educate, engage and empower students.

Their mission is to save lives.

Rise Together seeks to encourage awareness of the dangers of drug abuse.

The Aug. 14 program was a joint venture of Rise Together, the Waupaca County Department of Health and Human Services, Waupaca County Drug Task Force, ThedaCare Physicians and Waupaca County Drug Court.

Jed Wohlt, county public health officer, shared some statistics on what is happening within the county.

“In 2000 there were 111 opioid overdose deaths in Wisconsin,” Wohlt said. “In 2016 it was up to 827.”

The deaths were related to prescriptions opioids and heroin.

In Waupaca County, from 2002-06 there were zero opioid death, 2007-11 there were seven and 2012-16, there were 12. Eight were specifically from prescriptions.

There were also 57 opioid-related hospital discharges in 2006 compared to the 230 in 2016.

According to Wolht, Waupaca County was at a 30 percent higher rate than other areas of northeast region.

Sgt. Kevin Studzinski, Waupaca County Drug Task Force team leader, also weighed in on the problem.

“I began working for the sheriff’s office in 2001,” he said. “At that point our biggest problem was alcohol. Now, I have watched the current epidemic we are facing grow. I have seen crime increase and I have seen good people in difficult situations become addicted to different substances and do horrible things to their friends, families and other people in the community.”

In 2017, meth was the most common drug seized in Waupaca County, followed by heroin and cocaine.

“We know we cannot arrest our way out of this problem,” Studzinski said. “We know we have to partner with other groups, agencies and people to be affective.”

Losing a child to drugs
Guest speaker Peggy Strey shared her story about how drug use has affected her life.

“My son Aaron died on Jan. 15, 2017, at the forever age of 35 years, 10 months and 11 days, due to mixed intoxication,” Strey said. “Poor choices often lead to unintended consequences.”

Aaron graduated from Weyauwega-Fremont High School in 1999.

Strey described him as an athlete, smart, gifted, funny, with a love for music.

Strey found out 18 months before he passed away that Aaron was an addict.

“It happened so gradually, we truly had no understanding of it,” she said. “My son would never do those things. Aaron was an addict but the addict was not my child.”

Aaron was a good person with a bad problem Strey said.

“The dominoes began to fall when he lost his job due to failing a drug test,” she said. “My child was trapped by addiction. He will always be my baby, my child, my son.”

Nadine Machkovech and Douglas Darvey, from Rise Together, shared their own personal stories about addition and recovery.

“We are educating through storytelling,” Machkovech said. “I dream of a world where we are able to speak about our recoveries in any setting we are in.”

Machkovech started using in high school.

“I was ashamed,” she said. “Either it was the drugs that were going to take me or I was going to end it myself.”

She reminds people to educate themselves on what opioids are.

“Heroin and prescription pills are destroying our communities,” she said. “Not only throughout the state, but across the nation.”

According to Machkovech, one out of three households are affected by addiction crisis, and hers was one of them.
“I remember thinking there has to be more to life than this,” she said. “But just saying no was just not that easy.”

She lost her job, her apartment and her friends and she gives credit to her sister Natalie for saving her.

“She gave me a place to live and food to eat, but under the condition that I stay sober,” she said. “I had no other option at that point. I no longer wanted to suffer.”

She found recovery when she was 20 years old.

“I no longer have to say, ‘Hi, my name is Nadine and I am an addict,’” she said. “Instead, my name is Nadine and I am a person in long-term recovery and I am proud of it.”

Addiction leads to crime
A convicted felon and former junkie, Darvey, wants people to learn from his mistakes.

“I came from a good family and a loving home,” he said. “I smoked pot for the first time when I was 9 years old. I started smoking every day when I was 15. The more I used, the more I tried.”

Darvey found hope when he was arrested and already had three felonies on his record.
His siblings gave him a moment of clarity.

“For the first time in my life I was going to take a chance and find out who Douglas Darvey was,” he said.

He got a second chance, and after 2 1/2 years in prison, he participated in the Challenge Incarceration Program.

On Sept. 10, Darvey celebrates eight years of sobriety.

“We need to educate and not stigmatize,” he said. “I have learned through this journey that if you are struggling with something no matter what it is, you should be talking about it. Because of my treatment I am living my dreams.”

“If we don’t work together as a community to fight this epidemic, it’s just not going to work,” Studzinski said. “There is no one person that can fix this. Talk to your children early and often and be open to communication.”