Wellness & Well-being Highlights May 27

Wellness & Well-being Highlights

for the

Week of May 27, 2024

This week’s edition of our Worker Wellness & Well-being blog highlights an AI-based suicide prevention program for Vets that uses an algorithm that fails to take into account the sexual harassment/trauma female soldiers have experienced—to the importance our workers’ financial wellness regarding both mind and body—to how & why Mexican cartels have turned inward to now extort Mom & Pop tortilla shops. This week I would like to discuss the 2 breaking articles pertaining to Fentanyl in the USA. In the first article, the author eluded to the fact that related overdose deaths in 2023 were down from the year before…so, therefore, Fentanyl deaths in the US have peaked.¹ He went on the say, “The opioid epidemic appears to have entered that final phase.” On so many levels this is a misguided assumption. First and foremost, while this author did indicate that Narcan played a significant role in the aforementioned decrease, he totally missed acknowledging the advent of the 4^th Wave of the US Opioids Crisis: Polysubstances (I wrote about the “4 Waves” just a few weeks ago in this blog). The second article provides us with a different perspective by suggesting that related youth overdose deaths are actually increasing.² These authors posit that Fentanyl-related deaths for children 12-17 yo have doubled since the start of COVID. Experts point to the easy access of “fake” pills plus pandemic isolation/trauma^{3, 4} as culprits in this spike. Fortunately, schools are stocking Narcan and teaching people in the community about the dangers of Fentanyl. Unfortunately, many doctors are ill-prepared to counsel these younger patients on opioid misuse. In the DC area alone, Hispanics make up 40% of these visits. NOTE: While White teens comprise most of the opioid-related deaths nationwide, Black and Hispanic teens are now dying at a faster rate. If one buys into the notion that adolescence is about pushing boundaries and experimentation then it is incumbent upon those of us who are older and wiser not forget the new adage: ONE PILL CAN KILL.

 

Sources: [1] https://www.nytimes.com/2024/05/21/briefing/has-fentanyl-peaked.html?smid=nytcore-ios-share&referringSource=articleShare

[2] https://wapo.st/3wQENC8

[3] https://www.relias.com/resource/racial-trauma-understanding-race-based-traumatic-stress?utm_source=pardot&utm_medium=email&utm_campaign=7013w000002HbayAAC

[4] https://go.timelycare.com/l/916941/2024-05-17/t52m2/916941/1715969310eIvUsRm1/Report_Call_For_Campus…

 

Vets / Suicide Prevention / AI

 

Youth / Hmong / Suicide

 

Youth OD Deaths & Fentanyl

 

US Fentanyl Deaths: Update

 

Employers / Safety / SUD / Workers

 

Cannabis or Alcohol?

 

Cannabis / Seniors / Poisonings

 

A Tie-dyed Trip

 

Race-based Trauma

 

Mental Disorders & Teens

 

Financial Wellness (1)

 

Financial Wellness (2)

 

Financial Therapy: Handling Money & The Mind

 

Birdwatching & MH

 

Coping w/ Anxiety

 

Agreeing to Disagree

 

Anger’s damage: Mental & Physical

 

“Period Poverty” Awareness

 

AI & Skin Cancer

 

Report on Student Loneliness

 

How to Cook Cicadas

 

Disneyland’s Union Actors

 

Held hostage: Hospitals / Unions / Insurance Plans

 

Boilermakers’ corruption

 

BMW/VW & Forced Labor?

 

Mexico / Cartels / Tortillas

 

What ALL workers want?

 

Ukraine & Women in the workforce

 

Women in construction (1)

 

Women in construction (2)

 

Why double-major in college?

 

Paying for friendships?

 

Chocolate turmoil (1)

 

Chocolate turmoil (2)

 

Paid College Athletes?

 

TBIs & Family Decisions

 

Upcoming webinars, etc.:

Sleep Hygiene

 

Student Loneliness

 

FREE Diaper Distribution

 

 

 

NOTE: The links provided above are for informational purposes only. None of these serve as a substitute for medical advice one should obtain from his/her own primary care physician and/or mental health professional. Please contact johngaal@moaflcio.org with related questions or comments.