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continued from page 17

Panelists: Dr. Elise Gilbert Aronowitz, Dr. Shawn Achtman, moderator Stephanie Steinberg, Josh
Roberts and Judge Edward Sosnick.

Randee Black
JFS Resource Center Director

Introducing

Jewish Detroit’s New Resource for
Connecting You to the Help You Need

If you or someone you know could use some assistance,
the Jewish community is here to help. One call or
visit to jhelp.org is all it takes to connect you to the
resources that can make a difference.

JHELP is for: Children, Teens, Families,
Seniors and Others in Need

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Older Adult Services
Planning and Finances
Food
Career Services
Transportation
Housing

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Mental Health
People with Disabilities
Holocaust Survivors
Health & Wellness
Victims of Abuse

We are here for you.

1-833-44J-HELP

jhelp.org

Made possible by The Jewish Fund, the D. Dan and Betty Kahn Foundation
and the Jewish Federation of Metropolitan Detroit.

18

July 19 • 2018

jn

addiction “permanently changes the
brain” and addicts need help rather
than punishment.
When asked how the epidemic
got this far, Achtman pointed to the
ease with which doctors have pre-
scribed opioid medication and the
difficulty of determining whether
a patient is truly in pain. He says
while caution is now being imple-
mented, it is difficult to determine
who may or may not be lying to
obtain drugs.
Aronowitz emphasized the
importance of making a distinction
between medically necessary long-
term opioid use and addiction; the
latter involves a repeated pattern of
use without some medical reasoning
behind it.
“Addicts move between three
states: high, low and normal,” he
explained. “Addicts will need to feel

that high, while patients who need
the medicine need it just to get to
normal.”
“Trust God. Clean House. Help
Others.” This quote, a defining
principle of AA, has helped Roberts
through his own recovery.
If you or someone you know is
suffering from opioid addiction,
the West Bloomfield-based Daniel
B. Sobel Friendship House features
teen and adult programs, AA meet-
ings, Jewish recovery meetings and
even Shabbat dinners for addicts
and their families. Call (248) 788-
7878 or go to friendship circle.org/
friendshiphouse.
Other resources include Henry
Ford Health System Opioid
Resources, henryford.com/
locations/maplegrove/opioid, and
the Jewish Addiction Awareness
Network, jaanetwork.org. •

NCJW Backpack Project

More than 1,500 homeless youth
and children in need in Oakland
County will go back to school with
brand-new backpacks filled with all
the school supplies they need for the
upcoming year. The task of filling the
bags with notebooks, folders, rulers,
markers, crayons, index cards, high-
lighter, glue sticks, lined paper, pen-
cil sharpener and scissors is taken
on by the National Council of Jewish
Women.
The event will take place in
Southfield (26400 Lahser Road, Suite
100) on Thursday, July 26, where
approximately 50 volunteers will
gather at 10 a.m. to start the process
of making sure these children’s lives

are made a little easier at the start of
the school year.
The event is carried out in co-
operation with Oakland Schools
Homeless Student Education
Program and Jewish Family Service.
Funding for supplies comes from
NCJW|MI, along with grants from
the Dresner Foundation, William G.
and Myrtle E. Hess Charitable Trust,
Claire and Arthur (z’l) Kretchmer
Backpack Project Fund and Carol
Krugel Backpack Project Fund.
Approximately $17,000 worth of
school supplies are purchased for the
filled backpacks to be created.
For more information or to make
donations go to www.ncjwmi.org •

