Problem Gambling Awareness Week Wrap-Up

by Sasha C. Russell, M.A., Program Specialist, Communications, The Massachusetts Council on Compulsive Gambling

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Today wraps up National Problem Gambling Awareness Week (NPGAW). As mentioned in last week’s blog (here), the 2013 NPGAW theme is: "Problem Gambling: A New Understanding of a Community Concern." National Problem Gambling Awareness Week is a special week in the year where the councils across the United States focus on a specific theme to help raise awareness about issues surrounding problem gambling.

To promote NPGAW in Massachusetts, Council staff members set up tables, answered questions, and had conversations about problem gambling at various hospitals and community health centers across Massachusetts. You can see pictures from NPGAW here.

I kicked off NPGAW on Friday March 1^st at Interfaith Social Services (ISS) in Quincy. While there, I was able to sit down and talk to ISS’s food pantry clients about problem gambling during a time they call the “Learning Pantry.” Some people I spoke with were not aware that casinos were a reality in Massachusetts’ future. Others said they stayed away from gambling because they suffered enough in different aspects of their lives, battling poverty and other addictions. I did hear a heartbreaking story from one woman who told me her mother was a compulsive gambler, and died at Foxwoods casino. Everyone I spoke to, especially the last mentioned woman, reaffirm why I do the work that I do, and stressed how important it is that we have NPGAW.

On Monday, Executive Director Marlene Warner and her son Cormac, set up a table at the Northshore Community Health Center in Salem. “No one is too young to participate in Problem Gambling Awareness Week,” Marlene said about taking her young son with her. Studies have shown that the younger one is when prevention measures are put into place, the less likely they will become a problem gambler or experience issues with other addictions.

Also on Monday morning, Program Specialist Jodie Nealley went to Emerson Hospital in Concord. Jodie had a great turn out, and was able to talk to about 75 people, many of them social workers. Many people expressed that they knew of someone who was a problem gambler, or someone came to mind and took information to pass it on. That afternoon Jodie showed the movie “Owning Mahowny” at the P.E.O.P.L.E. recovery center in Lawrence. About 7 clients joined Jodie in viewing and discussing film.

Program Specialist Amanda Poggenburg and I showed “Owning Mahowny” on Monday afternoon as well, at StepRox in Roxbury. About 12 people joined for the movie. Many people were able to relate the feelings and the behavior to their own experiences with addiction and that seemed to hit home. Both places are looking forward to having more problem gambling-related events to help educate and raise awareness about the issues around problem gambling.

On Tuesday, Council Research and Data Director, Phil Kopel, visited Brigham and Women’s Foxboro Health Care Center and the Steward Norwood Hospital. Phil met with representatives at each facility to discuss problem gambling issues, and give out packets of informational material, including helpline cards for waiting rooms. Steward Norwood Hospital plans to include information from the educational materials in their weekly internal newsletter.

On Thursday, Fiscal Assistant Francia Peguero went to Brookside Community Health Center in Roxbury; and today, Friday, Communications Director Margot Cahoon and Fiscal Director Tom Luongo are raising awareness by visiting Outer Cape Health Services locations on Cape Cod in Provincetown, Wellfleet and Harwich. Unfortunately, due to the inclement weather, several staff members’ tables have been postponed to the near future.

The Mass Council, as all other councils, continue their work year round and are dedicated to providing leadership to reduce the social, financial, and emotional costs of problem gambling, and to promote a continuum of prevention and intervention strategies including: information and public awareness, community education and professional training, advocacy and referral services for problem gamblers, their loved ones and the greater community.