Health Occupation Students of America (HOSA) hosted an opioid awareness event attended by about 50 students in the Theatre during Ac Lab Mod 1 today.
This event is part of an opioid awareness campaign at MHS organized by HOSA. The club is participating in a community awareness event for their upcoming competition on March 25 and 26, where they will present the findings from their campaign to a panel of judges.
“Our whole goal since September has been to promote opioid use disorder and bring attention to this health crisis,” Zoya Shah, junior, said.
During this Mod, students watched a presentation about the uses of prescription opioids and the effects of addiction. They also learned what to do if someone overdoses on opioids as well as how to prevent overdose.
Our whole goal since September has been to promote opioid use disorder and bring attention to this health crisis,
— Zoya Shah
Shah and Maira Waqar, junior, spoke at the event and are trying to spread information among younger generations. In September, the two began to collaborate with the St. Louis Public Health Department and invited Skyla Barlow, public health coordinator, to speak at MHS.
According to the CDC, over 80,000 people died in 2021 due to overdoses involving opioids. Shah hopes students see how important this issue is.
“I feel like before I started this, I didn’t even know we were in an opioid epidemic, so I hope students take away knowledge and are more careful,” Shah said. “I know in our generation drug use is very common, and it can be really harmful.”
Associate Principal Dr. Mike Wegener took the responsibility of making sure this meeting became a reality.
“The students from HOSA came to me and said this is what we want to do, what are the steps we need to take, so I walked them through how to book the Theater and check in the speaker,” Dr. Wegener said.
Dr. Wegener said the topic of drug use affects MHS.
“It is an issue that is a problem among teenagers and high school students,” Dr. Wegener said.
Navin Ramamoorthy, junior, attended the event and appreciated the portion of the presentation about how to help someone who has overdosed.
“I feel like that’s important if you see a friend at a party accidentally taking drugs and overdosing,” Ramamoorthy said.
