VIEWPOINT: Recovery is a process that needs community support
By JUD CUNNINGHAM
September is National Alcohol and Drug Addiction Recovery Month's 20th anniversary and this year's theme is "Join the Voices for Recovery: Together We Learn, Together We Heal." For 20 years, recovery month has celebrated people in recovery from addiction and the treatment providers who help them.
Each September, communities across the country join together to help people recognize that substance use disorders are treatable diseases. Treatment and other recovery support programs are as effective as treatment for other chronic conditions. Recovery month aims to ensure that all those affected by addiction are aware of and can seek treatment so they can reclaim their lives in recovery.
More than 23 million people aged 12 or older needed treatment for a substance use disorder in the United States in 2007, and in Maui County an estimated 10,000 individuals and their families are affected by this disease. Many people do not understand that addiction is a treatable disease, and this misconception can keep people from getting the help they need. In 2007, as many as 20.8 million people nationwide needed but did not receive treatment at a specialty facility.
This issue warrants immediate action. It's important to showcase the value of long-term recovery because increased knowledge can help improve our community's health and safety, as well as alleviate addiction's damaging effects on our residents.
Every September, recovery month reminds us about the reality of this disease, the importance of making treatment accessible and the advantages of communication and education, which can open doors to treatment, support and long-term recovery.
On Maui, Aloha House Inc., Maui Youth & Family Services and Malama Family Recovery Center are aligned and dedicated to providing recovery services in our community for the entire spectrum from youth to adults. Our programs are designed so that we can reach an individual at various stages.
Aloha House has been operating for more than 31 years, providing services to the community in the areas of mental health and substance abuse. The mission of Aloha House is to promote recovery and healthy lifestyles to individuals and families by providing compassionate, effective and comprehensive behavioral health services with the spirit of excellence and aloha.
MYFS has focused on improving families through working with adolescents and teens for more than 30 years by offering a continuum of services including prevention, outpatient treatment for substance abuse and behavioral health treatment programs. Our mission is empowering youth and families with behavioral health issues to become responsible, self-fulfilled and contributing members of the community.
Malama's programs are unique in Maui County as well as in the state. Providing services in a nurturing, healing environment for more than 16 years, the team is known for its strength and commitment to providing a safe, sober, healthy environment for women to do the challenging work of healing themselves so that they can create change for their families.
What these agencies have in common is providing the access to recovery support mechanisms allowing for personal transformation. Our goal is to help people live healthy, happy lives, no matter what their circumstances are.
We hope that you will join us in recognizing the importance of recovery month and its role in keeping our families and community healthy and productive. Now more than ever, we believe that every individual deserves access to the services that can assist them on their road to recovery. If you know someone who is on that path right now, we hope that you will offer them your support and encouragement.
By working together as a community, we can foster awareness of addiction, treatment and recovery and encourage those in Maui County to seek the services they need.
* Jud Cunningham is the chief executive officer of Aloha House, Maui Youth & Family Services and Malama Family Recovery Center. To learn more about the available programs, call 579-8414.
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OLD WAILUKU SUGAR ROAD NEEDS TRIMMING
Above Waiale Road from the old Wailuku bridge going toward the Maui Memorial Park boundary, the old cane haul road needs a good trimming. Free-growing kiawe trees are growing wild on the side of the road and on it. Who owns this old can haul road and is it the county's or state's responsibility to cut all brush debris from the roadway?
Years ago when Wailuku Sugar used the roadway, it was always trimmed. Now, trees and brush threaten to take over. Whoever owns the road, I guess, is responsible for trimming and clearing brush away.
Also, across from the county baseyard and by the four-way intersection by Naniloa Drive, a big kiawe tree is growing right in the middle of the old roadway.
Glenn J. Molina
Kahului
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PATIENCE NOT ENOUGH, AND IT'S RUNNING OUT OVER WAR
I was about 7 years old when my father, Rocco Vitarelli, argued against President Wilson's vote to go to war.
I heard my father say, "America would need more than faith and patience to win the war. They will need thousands more troops."
On Sept. 10, the U.S. secretary of defense said in his speech that "all we will need to win (the) Afghanistan war is faith and patience." President Barack Obama agreed in principal but added, "We may need a few more troops." Defense Secretary Robert Gates estimated that we would need at least 20,000 more troops.
So, almost 100 years after my father agreed that it would need more than faith and patience to win World War I, it finally took faith, troops and millions of American lives plus dollars.
So how many more troops and dollars will it take (in addition to faith and patience) to win Obama's war?
On Oct. 21, I will be 99 years old. I don't have much more patience.
William Vitarelli
Haiku
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INVEST FUNDS IN TREATMENT PROGRAMS, NOT NEW PRISON
With the costs of incarceration rising and the benefits falling, our ability to keep our communities safe depends on better management and facilities. Just as the Oahu Community Correctional Center renovated and improved the first Oahu prison, it is possible to do the same on Maui.
The project hearing, regarding the replacement of the existing Maui Community Correctional Center, opened the possibility to keeping the 7 acres and replacing the dilapidated buildings and improving cellblocks and resources. However, the other possibility would be to decrease the 38-acre prison to 14 acres and save building expenses from the price of $235 million. The community can participate in these choices by contacting the Department of Public Safety's staff and task force.
Overall, keeping the land for the much-waited and needed county fair property and many other nonprofit associations would benefit youths and senior citizens.
Prison operations must be safe and secure and adequately staffed and equipped.
Significant savings could be met by reducing the inmate population. A reinvestment strategy with treatment resources would cut recidivism - and put a stop to new crimes, at a fraction of the cost of a new prison.
Let us balance the budget and deliver better public safety with improving crime punishment policies. We cannot build a new, expensive prison thinking it will prevent crime. Our opportunity now must focus on offender supervision, treatment, re-entry programs and how to cut recidivism. Also, let us invest in staff, equipment and other support for community corrections.
Pua Hashimoto
MCCC Chaplain
Wailuku
