Wednesday, April 8, 2020; Silver City, NM: The outbreak of COVID-19 and subsequent quarantine efforts to stem the spread of the virus, have threatened the required community’s participation in the New Mexico Community Survey (NMCS), a vital statistical tool used by Grant County’s Youth Substance Abuse Coalition (YSAPC).
“The survey supports prevention efforts in the county and ensures that our coalition focuses on needs that the community tells us through the survey,” said Corina Castillo, YSAPC program specialist. The YSAPC is composed of service providers and invested community members who cultivate healthy productive lifestyles for youth through environmental policy and advocacy change.
Usually, the NMCS is administered throughout Grant County, and the state, at local events during the spring, but the cancellation of all public events and gatherings has severely limited participation in the survey.
The statistics gathered from the survey determine substance abuse prevention and treatment needs in Grant County, and New Mexico as a whole. The more Grant County residents who complete the survey, the better YSAPC can respond to the priorities shared by residents.
The NMCS is completely anonymous, bilingual and voluntary for all residents 18 years of age or older. The survey is only offered online this year at www.tinyurl.com/NMCS2020 due to COVID-19 concerns. After completion of the survey, participants can enter to win a drawing for $100 cash card.
“People should take time to do the survey, because it’s a way for their voice and experiences to be heard, anonymously. Also, participation helps support funding to Grant County for substance misuse prevention,” adds Castillo.
Not only does NMCS findings help to define the community’s awareness and perceptions of substance misuse and abuse, they also help to define solutions. For example, based on previous NMCS results, Grant County residents weren’t securing their prescription medications.
Partnering with Hidalgo Medical Health Services, YSAPC staff hosted educational events at all Senior Centers in the county about securing their medications and distributed over 120 lock boxes. As a result, residents reported a 14 percent increase in locking up their medications in just one year’s time from 2018 to 2019.
Previous survey results also saw residents were concerned about the availability of safe medication disposal. Partnering with the Silver City Police Department and Bayard Police Department, YSAPC helped establish two MedReturn kiosks in those municipalities for safe medications disposal for the public. This effort for safe medication disposal included sponsoring Drug Take Back Days throughout the county, which in a single day netted over 200 pounds unused medications last October.
“Collecting local data like the New Mexico Community Survey is vital to the health and wellness of New Mexicans,” says Alexis Brandt, Data Specialist for the Center for Health Innovation which is the organization that oversees YSAPC efforts. “This information ensures our prevention programs continue to work towards meeting the specific needs of their community.”
COVID-19 threatens to negatively affect this important data collection because of the programs inability to target underrepresented populations such as men, elderly and Spanish-speakers. Community members are strongly encouraged to take the survey online to help support local prevention efforts.
To take the survey visit www.tinyurl.com/NMCS2020.
For more information on YSAPC contact Castillo at (575) 597-0025 or email ccastillo@swchi.org.
This news release is made available by the Youth Substance Abuse Prevention Coalition of Grant County, a program of the Center for Health Innovation, New Mexico’s designated Public Health Institute, and funded by the New Mexico Office of Substance Abuse Prevention (OSAP).