Welcome everybody to Midday magazine for this Wednesday April 16th, 2025.
Have your host James here.
We're joined right now by our good friend Jacob Wagner, public health strategist with Wood County Health Department.
Jacob, good to see you, man.
Good to see you James.
Always a pleasure.
I appreciate you being here and right away, I want to say a big thank you to you and everybody the whole team at the Wood County Health Department.
We appreciate you guys so darn much and love being able to hang out and talk a little bit about things in the community.
Especially events like we're going to focus on today, the Wood County Drug Collection, the take back day, if you will.
Let's dive right into this one and get into some of the details, Jacob.
Yeah. Well, it's that time of year again to clean out your medicine cabinets.
I mean, it's spring cleaning already, so it's perfect right there.
Yeah, get out there and go through your medicine and see what has expired or you no longer need.
Maybe you have some old pet meds, stuff like that.
So, yep, so we're hosting events here in Wood County.
It's going to be all over Wood County.
We got some in Marshfield, the Kusa, and Wisconsin Rapids, Pitzville, Port Edwards, and then the town of Rome as well.
So just in a nutshell, if you have unused or expired medications, you no longer want, you know, don't flush those down the toilet.
Don't throw those in the trash, you know, that can affect the environment.
It can lead to contaminating the groundwater as well.
So, yeah, so it'll be on Saturday, April 26th, and I've got a bunch of details here for you.
You want me to?
Yeah, in a second, if we could, and you gave a perfect cliff notes version of why we do this.
But I would like to dive into that just a little bit with you, just as a reminder,
if anything, to the audience, and certainly to people that may not know that, because it's important,
but I think for many generations, you know, this is just what they did.
If they had unused meds, or a lot of things, you know, a goldfish, I mean, what it might be,
and they just threw it in the toilet, and then they flushed it, and then they didn't ever worry about it again.
And now the chickens have come home to roost.
You know, nobody wants me to hear me say PFAS, or those kind of things.
But there is, you know, stuff that we need to do.
We now understand a lot better.
We have a lot more of the science of this stuff.
And it's that vital to be not, and not only for clean water, but for a clean earth and going forward.
It's really important for us to get these things out of the system as much as we can.
Yeah, and I get it. I mean, I'm one of those people too, where it's just like,
what's the quickest means to clean up this mess that I have?
But it's the same reason why you don't put like chemicals in your trash.
You know, you try to find the proper means of disposing of that.
You don't want that sitting in landfill.
You don't want that eventually getting its way back into the earth.
You know, something that we're all utilizing.
And to my understanding of groundwater and just the filtration systems in general,
they have a hard time really getting out those chemicals that are in prescription medications.
So it's really important to keep that out.
And I know even the conversations with my own mother, you know, it's just kind of like,
can I just throw this bag in the trash?
And I get it, you know, it's an extra step.
And we have a bunch of means to try to make that as convenient as possible.
So these take back events, we try to like the one hearingless constant rap
is we'll be at pick and save.
So, you know, if you're out and about,
if you're already going to the grocery store, you know, bring those medications.
And for me, I don't know about everyone at home,
but for me, it's like spring cleaning time.
So I'm already starting to gather up all that stuff over the years.
Look at the expiration dates, you know,
if your ibuprofen's expired, you know, throw it in a bag
and bring it to one of these take back events.
But all great points.
Thank you for that, Jacob.
I appreciate it.
You know, there was a point in time
where recycling seemed like it would be exhausting.
And oh my gosh, I'm never going to be able to do this and remember to do this.
And this goes over here and I got to look at numbers on the bottom of things.
There was a time in our society where seatbelts seemed like,
oh, I'm never going to remember to do that every time I jump in the car.
I'm not going to be able to remember to do this.
We got there.
We got there as a society.
And I believe, believing in my community, believing in people out there,
that we're getting there on this.
We're getting more and more in mind with this one,
where this is something I think a lot of people actually look forward to.
If you think about this and especially going back to the spring cleaning and everything,
we're helping you with clutter.
Who is against that?
Who would be, you know, oh, no, I want more clutter.
I love all this.
You know, no, we're helping you clean out that medicine cabinet.
We're helping you with these events be able to give a cleaner earth as well
in a better future for our kids, kids, kids, and all of this.
Along with, of course, having better water and such,
there is literally no negative to this one.
This side effects may include, there are none.
There isn't any.
This is just a positive.
Again, as Jacob said, this is going on April 26th.
Pretty much anywhere you're listening to us,
we'll get into the times as we wrap up today,
but I didn't want to get into the accepted items with you.
And what is and isn't accepted with this?
So for the take back events, we accept prescriptions,
and that's controlled and non-controlled prescriptions.
So over the counter medications, creams,
and just a note that creams and liquids must be in their original packaging.
We accept inhalers, non-air assault sprays,
appointments, patches, pet medications, and I believe that's it.
But for unaccepted items,
aerosol cans, bile hazardous materials,
such as body fluids or blood, household hazardous waste,
such as paint, pesticides, oil, gas, illegal drugs,
needles and sharps, mercury and thermometers,
and personal care products such as shampoo, lotion, and sunscreens.
But if you do have those and you are trying to get rid of those,
there is means to get rid of all those.
So don't throw those things in the trash.
There is ways and you can get a hold of me and I can get you
a hold of the proper means of disposing of that.
But those are just not for these take back events.
Something that we've talked about with Sheriff Becker before too,
as far as the illegal drugs part of things,
if you are trying to get rid of those or something,
that is something you can do and just get rid of,
just the end of the conversation.
They just want to get them off the streets,
off and out of the house, that kind of thing.
So that's noteworthy, I think,
and it's something else you can reach out about.
But I also find this as important as it is to get this out there.
I think it's also noteworthy to what we were talking about before,
about why we're not doing that with these things.
And even when it comes to the taking in of these things
to recycle them in the proper way,
we have to do that the right way too.
For one, we can't put too much on our volunteers
and our people that are collecting these items plate.
There's also certain things that they're just not equipped
to be able to take care of and get rid of.
So then that brings us around
where every year, I'm sorry,
we have our opportunities for you to recycle electronics and paints
and a lot of those things.
We won't be talking more about that when that comes up.
But these are the, you hang on to this stuff
to be able to get rid of it the proper way.
And we appreciate people doing that in the community,
really do appreciate as well how broken down this is.
I think that we could break down each one of these items
and spend hours talking about why they're,
why they can be recycled properly and why they need to be.
But I do think it's, every year that we're doing this,
I feel like I see new items added onto that accepted list.
That's encouraging.
Yeah, and I think, and it's not just the take back events.
I think it's another thing too where some people are thinking,
I don't want to put all this stuff in a bag and wait until April
and wait until October.
There is locations all over Wood County that you can take these.
So I don't know if you like we have a bag on top of the fridge.
It's full of stuff and it's like we're waiting for the take back events
because we appreciate that.
But if you can't maybe, if like a loved one passes away
and you've just got a bunch of these medications,
you don't know what to do with and you're like,
I don't want to throw these in the trash.
You know, I know that I need to properly dispose of these.
Most police departments in Wood County can take it.
So the Sheriff's Department has a location,
has a drop box for it.
The Wisconsin Rapids, police departments.
The CUSA PD, Port Edwards PD, Rome PD,
Marshville PD, Pitzville PD,
and then Grand Rapids PD.
And that will be in the Grand Rapids Municipal Building.
They have that.
And then also, Marshville Clinic has their first floor pharmacy.
We'll take those.
And then the Marshville Clinic Health System also has a drop box for that.
And then in Wisconsin Rapids, the Walgreens and CVS both have drop boxes.
And if you're confused at all,
it's usually located by the pharmacies.
Anyone in there should know.
I used to work at a pharmacy when I was in college.
So we get those questions all the time.
So there's plenty of places to dispose of that.
And Jacob, again, if you have follow-up questions or want to know about some,
Jacob will take your questions a little bit later.
We'll get you the information how to reach out to Jacob.
One other thing we didn't want to know as well about those that can't attend the event,
Jacob, we'll get in touch on that for a moment.
Yeah, yeah.
If you're unable to attend the event,
so not only is there permanent medication drop boxes throughout Wood County,
you could also get a hold of me.
We could find a way to get you.
We have these Dotera deactivation kits.
So that's something.
So maybe if someone can't even make their way,
in general, it has a hard time getting out and about into the public.
We work with the ADRC, their Meals on Wheels program,
to try to get these deactivation kits out there.
But if you're someone that knows somebody,
hey, they can't really get out of the house.
They're having a hard time making it to these events,
making it to these police locations.
It's these little bags that you essentially open,
put the medication, do some water.
I believe it's some sort of like a charcoal type thing that just kind of breaks down the chemicals,
essentially neutralizes the chemicals.
So then you can throw that in the trash without it affecting.
We also have mail-in bags.
So that's just essentially just a prepaid mailer.
Put the medication in, remove the tape, seal it,
put that in the mailbox.
And then I also, we also offer lock boxes through the department.
And that's kind of a whole other tangent.
My job at the department is really focusing on
prevention of substance use among kind of the county members.
And so one of the things that we see is if somebody has a controlled substance,
so maybe we're talking about, like an opioid prescription,
something along those lines.
So if someone has an unused or expired,
and they're just kind of leaving that in the medicine cabinet,
there's a potential for somebody to accidentally use that.
Maybe someone that doesn't fully understand what it is,
and then the potential of harms from that.
Somebody that may have an active substance use disorder,
that may be seeking to use that.
Or maybe somebody that's seeking to experiment.
So that in itself is a big reason why we push for these medications to be properly
disposed of, and then not just sit around them one day,
be like, oh, what happened to that medication?
But we also offer lock boxes through the health department,
which these are actually really nice lock boxes.
They're kind of this heavy duty metal.
They got this nice black look to them.
You can screw them down inside of like a drawer or something like that too.
I'm not saying they're unpenetrable.
Someone could break in if they want.
But at least it would start that conversation.
Okay, I have my medications in here.
Something happened.
But there's just a lot of resources like that.
So if anyone's interested in anything like that,
they can reach out to me.
And I will be able to provide them that.
We helped take care of a loved one's home that we lost.
And we were clearing it out and everything.
And found medications in there from like the 80s and stuff
that hadn't been cleared out and some of those things.
While we were doing that, this kind of conversation came up about what to do with some of these things.
And I know that for some of my family and some of the people that I know,
there was also a bit of healing that was involved with the cleaning and the getting rid of these.
And really feeling like feeling good about it doing it in a right way, in a proper way.
There's that part of this too, I think when it comes to that.
And the options that are available.
I would say from the first time we talked to now, which hasn't been that long of a time.
But it's been a bit of a stretch here that we've been doing this for a couple of years and everything.
It's great to see those improvements and the adapting done by the department and everybody
involved with this event to work with the community.
And like, hey, we'll meet you halfway.
We'll meet you more than halfway.
Just trying to get these things out of keeping them out of the wrong hands and out of the environment.
When it comes to, I don't know the proper way to ask this because I feel like you cover your
basis so well, man. But are there questions that you get over the years more than others when
it comes to this event? Or is there anything that stands out to you that you want to make sure?
Well, we want to take some time to touch on this.
Yeah, it's always the, I'd say it's always the unaccepted items.
People will always contact me and my coworker Ashley Norton and have questions about, you know,
just random stuff, I think, like nitroglycer.
Just stuff like, you know, I'll get a call.
And then, and that will just set up kind of communicating with our environmental health,
which is the proper disposal options here in the county.
And then just kind of getting that information to them.
Sharp's disposal is another one I hear a lot of.
So someone say someone is a landlord or a loved one passes away and someone just stumbles
across basically, essentially, use needles and they're like, what do I do with this?
And I do, there is a lot of locations in the community that you can dispose of those.
If it's like single use, we've got some in Brain Park.
We have like outdoor kiosks.
So we were kind of seeing that there were some needles actually like out in the park areas.
And so we, the impact substance prevention coalition work together to create outdoor kiosks.
So for someone is, you know, using insulin in a park, they can just have that sort of
safe sharps disposal.
So Brain Park has one, Robinson Park has one, and then Wisconsin Rapid Zoo Parking also has one of those.
And then if you have larger things of sharps, maybe having a big bundle,
I wouldn't, you know, handle them with your bare hands, which I know can be difficult.
But if you can get those in sort of a puncture-proof container, like a laundry detergent bottle,
the Aspirus Wisconsin Rapid's Hospital, so they just change their name.
And the Aspirus Wisconsin Rapid's clinic Pete Street First Floor, the Marshfield Medical Center
emergency room, have ways where you can actually dispose of a bigger batch of it.
And I believe there's like a sticker, a biohazard sticker that you, they have next to those
drop-offs. You just put it in that laundry container and then put it in that drop box.
And once again, before we wrap up today, we'll give you Jacob's information with any of questions
that you might have. I would start with Jacob. I would start there. And that's a, you know,
overfill your email box or your phone or anything like that. But I think that's a good place to
start with any questions that you might have. Speaking with Jacob Wagner from the Wood County
Health Department, and Jacob, you guys are doing something I think really smart, really, with
real initiative to it coming up with your survey on the way. Yeah, yeah. So we have been doing some
work on addressing youth retail access to THC in the community. There's an ordinance in Wood
County that was put in place in 2022, restricting the sale of psychoactive hemp derivatives to
individuals under the age of 21. And so when we're talking to youth in the community,
we're, you know, now we're starting to wonder, well, you know, what about outside of the kind of,
what about online sales? What about these different, you know, kind of means that youth can
obtain these products? So something that the impact coalition is working on is gaining that
youth perspective on where do youth obtain and use kind of the where, when, why, around youth THC
use? You know, why are they doing it? Where are they doing it? When are they doing it? You know,
how do they, do they get this? And it's not directly asking youth, where do, you know, where do you
get this? But it's more of, you know, where do you feel? Where does it seem that this is happening?
Just to kind of help the substance prevention coalition, just to gain a better understanding of
that youth perspective around being a youth or a young adult in that THC use nowadays.
And so this is a survey that we'll be running now until June. So we're trying to get that survey
out there. So I believe right now it's on the Healthy People Wood County. Our Facebook page,
we should have recently done a post on it. And we'll be hoping to get that out as well soon.
I believe we sent like flyers and emails to the schools and all that kind of stuff. But yeah,
if you go to Healthy People Wood County, our Facebook page, there should be a post there. And it's
for youth and young adults to take it. So we're looking for that, you know, grades six through
college is essentially what we're looking for. But anyone that identifies as a youth or a young adult
can take it. And then we've got a bunch of $50 Visa gift cards. So you know what youth or a
young adult that just wants to share their opinion, even if they don't know anything, jump on and let
us know that. And then they've got a chance to win a $50 Visa gift card. So that's pretty cool.
And it's incredibly cool. And I think forward thinking to do something like this. You know,
any one of us that were a kid cleaning up our room when we were young and putting everything
under the bed, we know that we're going to have to clean it eventually. There's no, there's no
putting the genie back in the bottle or certain things. We don't do our kids or the youth any good
if we just ignore these things. Or if we, you know, well, it's uncomfortable to talk about. So I
don't want to talk about it. Like that's how we got in a lot of trouble with a lot of things in
society. We're in a better age now. And we're that much better for it. And especially our youth is
that much better for it, which makes our future that much better for it. And the only way we know
these things in a lot of times in life are asking young people, there's certain stuff that while you
and I are not ancient or anything like that, it's been a while since we were in school. And things
have changed. And they're the only ones that know a lot of this stuff. So go into them,
write the direct source is not only intelligent in the smartest way to do this, I believe. But it's
also like the only way we make things better is by communicating and talking to each other. Part
of again, how we got in trouble in the first place. And this is going back to when we were kids
is adults making decisions and not even talking to kids or paying attention to what they're doing.
This is a better way to do this. And I think and from the viewpoint of the impact substance
wrench and coalition, where main focus is preventing youth substance use. And so it's like, of course,
to have that youth voice is so important, which is a plug for me to say, if you want to be a part
of the impact work, you know, contact me if there's a youth that want to be a part of the impact
work, contact me, be a part of those meetings, those emails, those conversations, and let your voice
really be a part of where this work goes. Jacob, before we wrap up, can we go over the details one more
time of the Wood County Community Drug Collection taking place Saturday, April 26th. Okay,
here's the deeds get ready. So it's Saturday, April 26th. It'll be at the Marshalled City Hall
from 10 a.m. to 2 p.m. Nacusa Court assisted living from 8 a.m. to 11 a.m.
Pick and save in Wisconsin Rapids from 10 a.m. to 2 p.m.
Pitzville Police Department 9 a.m. to 12 p.m. Port Edwards Fire Department 11 a.m. to 1 p.m.
Town of Rome Police Department in Adams County 10 a.m. to 2 p.m. We accept over-the-counter medications,
creams, inhalers, non-aerosol sprays, liquids, ointments, patches, pet medications, and vials.
Do note that creams and liquids must be in original packaging. We do not accept aerosol cans,
biohazardous materials such as blood, bodily fluids, or blood, household hazardous ways,
such as paint, pesticides, oils, gas, illegal drugs, needles and sharps, mercury thermometers,
personal care products such as shampoo, lotions, and sunscreen. And I do want to note that
actually the marsh field drug take back does accept sharps. And then I also want to note that we've
got handouts and stuff too. So if you want more information on this, if you're just dying,
we've got these really good permanent disposal site magnets too as well. So get a hold of me,
I'll make sure to get you one of those. We also have to tarot bags, mail-in bags for your
medications, and then we also have the lock boxes. If you're interested, any of that, get a hold of
me. Jacob Wagner, 715-421-8907, or my email is Jacob.wagner at woodcountywi.gov.
Didn't even need me. Didn't even need me. You could have done this by yourself, man. That was
fantastic. Nice work, Jacob. And again, thank you to you, the team over there at the Wood County
Health Department, making our community healthier, safer, and a lot more fun. And we appreciate
the time and say hi to the team over there for us. I will. We appreciate you James. Thanks a lot.
Well, and WI, or sorry, woodcountywi.gov is another place you can go to find some of the information
of, well, Jacob and I have been talking about woodcountywi.gov. Be sure to bookmark that web page.
We'll be back with more midday magazine right here at 97-5 FM 13-20 AM WFHR. We are locally
grown radio.
