CASS LAKE- The Leech Lake Band of Ojibwe is hosting a two-day opioid response summit on November 13th and 14th at the Northern Lights Casino and Hotel.
The summit is a much anticipated event for the tribe and will feature elder, youth and life experience panels. As well as breakout sessions on Narcan training, grant funding, and suicide prevention.
The event is open to the entire community, all ages welcome. Meals and snacks will be provided both days. A hotel block has also been reserved for interested parties.
Health Division Director, Brian Brunelle, who has been heading the organizing committee, says “We’ve had many community members come forward to express their concern that we don’t have a true plan to address the opioid crisis here at Leech Lake and within our surrounding communities. The goal of this summit is to get together and identify that strategic plan.
Looking at the value of our communities input to offer solutions to address this problem. We also have a number of community members who have lost loved ones and wanted to express their feelings on how this loss impacted their families. That’s why we came up with an empowering piece to this. There is a solution in that family structure and we want to try to get that captured through our summit” says Brunelle.
“We’re trying to educate, provide tools and resources to our community and we understand we have gaps in the services we provide and we want to look at solutions to fill these gaps and address this crisis in a comprehensive way.
The Opioid Response Summit will run from 8:30 a.m. until 4:00 p.m. on the 13th and 8:30 a.m. until 3:00 p.m. on the 14th respectively. There will be a special cultural event on the 13th from 5-7pm with a drum group and dancers.
Registration for the summit is free but space is limited so please preregister! Limited registration will be available the day of the summit.
To register for the summit please email: [email protected] or call 218-335-4404
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