Empowering Communities Through Public Health Education

Dallas County Health and Human Services Presentation at Barack Obama Male Leaders Academy

In alignment with the OD2A initiative, public health educators implemented a data-driven, school-based intervention designed to reduce substance use risk and promote mental health among youth in grades 6–12. The comprehensive initiative combines evidence-based prevention education with harm reduction strategies to increase awareness, build resilience and connect students and school personnel with critical resources.

Key activities include delivering interactive classroom presentations and discussions on the risks associated with fentanyl, vaping, alcohol, marijuana and other substances, while also promoting mental health awareness and reducing stigma. Public health educators provide students with information on local counseling services, crisis lines, treatment options and other community support resources to encourage early intervention and help-seeking behaviors.

The program also distributes naloxone and educates school nurses and staff on overdose response. In addition, educators develop culturally relevant educational materials and facilitate student engagement activities that reinforce healthy decision-making, resilience and protective behaviors.

The CDC Foundation evaluates the effectiveness of the program through pre- and post-assessments, participant feedback and other performance measures to assess how much participants have learned, changes in attitudes and the overall impact of the intervention. By integrating prevention education, harm reduction and community resource navigation, this initiative supports OD2A's goal of reducing overdose risk and improving the health and well-being of students and school communities.

Measurable Reach and Results

• Educated 510+ students, teachers and staff on substance misuse risks, fentanyl awareness and healthy coping mechanisms.
• Expanded Harm Reduction Access by providing eight doses of Narcan and a dedicated Narcan first aid kit to school nurses, significantly increasing campus emergency preparedness.
• Elevated Resource Literacy by linking youth to local crisis lines, counseling services and culturally relevant educational materials.
   

Data Driven Insights in Ohio 

As an Ohio SUDORS (State Unintentional Drug Overdose Reporting System) abstractor, the team consistently reviews and abstracts information from overdose death investigations, including death certificates, coroner and autopsy reports, toxicology findings, medical records, treatment records and other relevant documents. This information is synthesized and entered into the National Violent Death Reporting System (NVDRS) to ensure accurate, high-quality data for public health surveillance and analysis.

As of July 2026, the team had processed 1,295 unintentional overdose deaths from the first half of 2025 and 1,142 deaths from the second half of 2025. Throughout the reporting period (June 2025 to June 2026), the team consistently met or exceeded 95 percent of performance targets focused on timeliness, completeness and data collection processes.

Key accomplishments included initiating more than 96 percent of overdose death investigations within 120 days of death, achieving 100 percent demographic data abstraction, exceeding circumstance data abstraction goals with rates above 93 percent and obtaining coroner reports for 100 percent of cases.

Through collaboration with coroners, medical examiners, hospitals, law enforcement, treatment facilities and Medicaid records teams, SUDORS provides critical data that helps identify overdose trends, emerging substances and patterns of combined drug intoxication across Ohio. These insights support prevention efforts and inform public health decision-making statewide.

The main insight is the year over year trend of overdose death cases. Further analyses can derive trends in emerging drugs and combined intoxication prevalence rates.

Kheyan Wilcox, SUDORS Abstractor