The Medical Center Foundation in Gainesville has announced that it will donate the proceeds from its golf tournament in 2015 to the Medical Association of Georgia Foundation’s (MAG Foundation) ‘Think About It’ campaign to reduce prescription drug abuse. The ‘Medical Center Open’ raised $250,000 in 2014.
“The MAG Foundation is proud and honored to receive this kind of incredible support,” says MAG Foundation President Jack M. Chapman Jr., M.D. “We would like to extend our sincere thanks to The Medical Center Foundation for providing some much-needed resources to combat the prescription drug abuse epidemic in northeast Georgia.”
Dr. Chapman explains that the ‘Think About It’ campaign promotes four key messages: “People should only take their medicine as it’s prescribed, they shouldn’t share their medicine, they should store their medicine in a safe and secure place, and they should properly dispose of any unused medicine.”
Dr. Chapman notes that the MAG Foundation will use The Medical Center Foundation funds to develop and disseminate communications resources that address the use of Naloxone (which reverses the effects of an opioid overdose) and Georgia’s “Amnesty 9-1-1″ law (which allows trained first responders to administer Naloxone and which provides limited immunity for people who call 911 for drug overdoses).
He says the funds will also be used to provide subsidies to purchase Naloxone for approved first responders and to provide training in overdose first aid the use of Naloxone and to pay for prescription drug disposal boxes in the community.
Finally, Dr. Chapman stresses that the MAG Foundation will be working “hand-in-hand” with a number of local stakeholders, including physicians, local government and law enforcement officials, college campus police departments, the Georgia Association of Chiefs of Police, and the Georgia Sheriffs’ Association.
The ‘Medical Center Open’ will take place on October 1.
