The Lancaster County District Attorney’s Office has launched an original public-service announcement aimed at prevention of the still-escalating number of overdose deaths involving opioid abuse.
The 11-minute PSA features two Lancaster County mothers who recently lost children to opioid overdoses. The mothers discuss the paths and plights of their children, along with warning signs of their children’s heroin abuse they now see in hindsight.
The PSA also offers insight on treatment options for addicts, how parents should deal with a child in addiction, and a healing resource for anyone who lost a loved one to the epidemic, which killed over 4,600 people last year in Pennsylvania.
The DA’s office developed the PSA as an action step in trying to stall the rapidly-increasing number of Pennsylvanians dying from opioid abuse.
Lancaster-based Triode Media Group produced the film, providing the DA’s office oversight throughout the 3-month creation process.
We intend to make the PSA available to schools, churches, law-enforcement agencies, community groups and whoever else could benefit from the messaging.
Also, we offer the PSA to local movie theaters to consider for pre-feature screenings.
The mothers, both from northern Lancaster County, provide heartbreaking looks at the promise of their children who were raised with solid family structure, but were unable to escape their addictions. The man and woman featured in the PSA both died in their 20s.
Lancaster County District Attorney Craig Stedman is offering the PSA as an education tool, but also, and perhaps more importantly, a resource for everyone to apply to their daily lives.
We send special thanks to the mothers who had the courage and grace to discuss such intimate details of their lives, and appreciate the efforts of media outlets who help in spreading the word about the PSA and its essential message.
If interested in a screening of the full PSA, call the District Attorney’s Office at 717-299-8100 and ask for Sarah Fritz, outreach coordinator.
MEDIA CONTACT: Brett A. Hambright, 717-295-2041; bhambright@co.lancaster.pa.us; Twitter: @BrettHambright