Georgetown University students visit Martinsburg to learn more about addiction recovery
By Ainsley Hall ahall@journal-news.net
MARTINSBURG — Georgetown University’s Rural Resilience and Public Health Immersion program visited Martinsburg on Monday to learn more about the opioid epidemic and how it continues to affect the community.
Students visited Community Cup Coffee, where they heard from people involved in the addiction treatment and criminal justice field.
Georgetown University is a private university located in Washington, D.C. Through the Rural Resilience and Public Health Immersion program, students had the opportunity to travel to West Virginia to get a better understanding of rural health care systems, substance use and treatment and how people are working toward creating more ways for others to get what the help they need.
Blaythe Ayala, assistant director of community-based learning and immersion, was the leader of the group as it visited with people in West Virginia and talked briefly about the program’s main goal.
“The biggest thing with this program is that these students are learning a lot from their professors,” Ayala said. “This gives them the opportunity to get lived knowledge from people who are dealing with these problems every day and see what the community is doing.”
Erin Gaertner and Lara Foster, from Jobs & Hope West Virginia, were just two of the people who came to talk with the students. Jobs & Hope West Virginia helps those in recovery find career training and find jobs that will help them create a better future for themselves.
Gaertner is a transition agent for the Eastern Panhandle, while Foster works in the southwest region of the state. During their discussion, they talked about what they do and answered the students’ questions about some of the issues people face when it comes to recovery.
“With our proximity to D.C., we have some of the highest overdose rates in the country,” Gaertner explained. “In West Virginia, there are around four people a day who die from an overdose. There has been a decrease in deaths, but it’s still not enough.”
They also had a few other guests who shared their personal experiences with addiction and recovery. They shared how they got addicted and entered recovery treatment and how it completely changed their lives. Both guests talked about how their experiences inspired them to get a job in addiction recovery.
