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Weekly News Brief | October 27, 2023
From the Office of Chancellor Whitney Yamamura, Ed.D.
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I'm taking the unusual step of starting this letter with a content warning. Below I share my thoughts on addiction and overdose. Please consider your own wellbeing if this is a topic that brings pain.
This past Tuesday, the District Office hosted multiple agencies, along with families and friends, in Addressing the Opioid Crisis in Orange County.
Addiction is a cruel disease, for the sufferer and for loved ones. Addiction leverages the brain's own wiring against itself, overwhelming basic functions and emotions. And, as too many know from personal experiences of loss, addictive substances can be fatal.
The worst responsibility of a college president or chancellor is to face the family and community when a student has died due to drug overdose or alcohol poisoning. One of the scariest things about counterfeit fentanyl is how little it takes to kill. In clinical settings, this powerful drug is closely measured and monitored. When those controls are removed, it is nearly impossible to know whether the next pill will be lethal.
Recovery happens, as was heard in stories shared this week. We have also gained a powerful tool in the form of Naloxone/Narcan to intervene when overdose occurs; keeping a person alive long enough to receive help. Thank you to those on our campuses who have trained to administer Narcan, and a special thank you to our colleagues Tim Winer, Tony Bryant, Joe Garcia, and Larry Pita whose quick actions to identify overdose and administer Narcan have saved lives.
I also want to thank our college counselors and student health professionals who work every day to identify and offer connections for those in need of recovery services. Of course, regardless of our roles, each of us has a responsibility to speak up if we see warning signs.
As with so many of our fundamental challenges today, the disease of addiction is not easy to solve. What we can do is surround our students with care and support, while also preparing to act when called upon.
With gratitude,
Whitney
Whitney Yamamura, Ed.D.
Chancellor
Postscript
Orange County provides resources for those struggling with substance abuse and those close to the person. Please see those resources on OC Navigator.
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Addressing the Opioid Crisis in OC Forum
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The OC Health Care Agency, City of Costa Mesa, Costa Mesa Police Department, Costa Mesa Fire Department, Coast Community College District, Newport-Mesa Unified School District, and non-profit Recovery Road Inc. joined with elected officials Supervisor Katrina Foley, Assemblymember Cottie Petrie-Norris, and Trustee Mary Hornbuckle in presenting a session that served both as community forum, intervention training, and panel discussion by experts in the field. The crisis continues to claim hundreds of lives in Orange County each year. A unified response across agencies seeks to address the many facets of opioid addiction.
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Coffee Breaks with the Chancellor
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College News
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COASTLINE COLLEGE |
On October 20, Coastline College held a grand opening of their new cadaver lab from the John Stauffer Charitable Trust grant at the Newport Beach campus. The new John Stauffer Human Anatomy Suite will provide experiential learning opportunities and have a tremendously positive impact on the education experiences of the College's Biological Sciences and Allied Health students. Attendees included faculty, staff, and students, as well as special guests Timothy Gosney, William Kruse, and Michael Whalen-Trustees from the John Stauffer Charitable Trust, Dr. Mark Linksey, Professor of Neurological Surgery at the UCI School of Medicine, and Darla Colohan from African Mission Services.
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GOLDEN WEST COLLEGE |
Golden West College was ranked fourth among the state's 116 community colleges on EDSmart.org's 2024 edition of the Best Community Colleges in California. A nationally recognized publisher of college resources and rankings, EDsmart's list includes only fully accredited schools and is based on affordability, graduation rate, retention rate, and median earnings of former students who received federal financial aid, at 10 years after entering the college. Rankings and data was gathered from the National Center for Education Statistics website, College Scorecard, Payscale, school websites, and other reputable sources. To learn more about EDSmart visit www.edsmart.org.
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| ORANGE COAST COLLEGE |
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Orange Coast College will welcome thousands of elementary school students to campus for the 24th annual Community Science Night on Friday, November 3, from 5 to 8 p.m. Science Night is a signature event for OCC, with faculty showing off their programs with interactive, hands-on experiments and experiences. Participating departments include chemistry, marine science, astronomy, geology, engineering, health science, biology, archaeology, and more. Attendees can explore the OCC campus, including the Dennis Kelly Aquarium, Planetarium, and Horticulture Gardens. Telescopes will be available to gaze at the night sky. The event is free to the general public. All attendees receive a free hot dog. Visit the Community Science Night website for more information.
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Schedule
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Chancellor, Week of October 30
Dr. Yamamura is in the District, Monday through Wednesday.
Dr. Serban is Acting Chancellor, Thursday and Friday.
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publicaffairs@cccd.edu
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