Hopeful signs
In a Sept. 2 online article WMUR reported that in August, Manchester had its first month without a drug overdose death since 2015. The article quoted Chris Stawasz, the Northeast regional director of American Medical Response, who said that reducing overdose deaths has been a collaborative effort. “It’s a combined effort by many groups to make this happen. And certainly, the availability of Narcan to the general public is a key factor in preventing deaths,” Stawasz said. “That’s probably the single biggest factor that we believe is contributing to this milestone.”
QOL score: +2, for a trend that hopefully continues
Comment: According to the WMUR story, “while the news is optimistic, the opioid epidemic has always been unpredictable. AMR says communities will need to keep working together to prevent deadly overdoses.”
Miss Dolly’s legacy lives on
In an Aug. 27 online article, New Hampshire Public Radio reported a bipartisan effort in the State Legislature “to make Dolly Parton’s Imagination Library accessible to participating families statewide.” The late singer and philanthropist established a program in 1995 to provide age-appropriate books each month to children up to 5 years old. “Currently, there are only a few partnering programs in the Granite State,” the NHPR article reported, “including in Barrington, Durham, Nashua, and the North Country….” On Thursday, state Sens. Darryl Abbas, a Republican from Salem, Donovan Fenton, a Keene Democrat, and Suzanne Prentiss, a Democrat from Lebanon, announced they planned to file legislation for the “Imagination Library Act.”
QOL score: +1
Comment: “[The bipartisan] plan would use state funds, administered through the state Department of Education, to help provide the free books to participating families,” the article read. “According to their announcement, their proposal would cost up to $750,000 per year once it is fully expanded over the next five years.”
Fall hiking safety
HikeSafe is a program developed by New Hampshire Fish and Game to help inform hikers about the facts they need to know to hike safely in the White Mountains. According to a recent blog post on the HikeSafe website, many hikers run into problems when they plan for conditions at the start of a hike, not conditions higher up in the mountains. “One of the biggest mistakes a fall hiker can make is preparing for the weather only at the trailhead instead of the summit or how it will change along the entire route. Temperatures drop as elevation rises, and the higher summits can experience freezing temperatures, strong winds, ice and even snow (sometimes in July!), while conditions down low might feel like a comfortable fall day.”
QOL score: +1 for thoughtful hiking
Comment: Other factors that many hikers fail to consider in the fall, according to the HikeSafe blog post, include not wearing seasonally appropriate clothing, shorter daylight, underestimating crowds on popular trails, encounters with hunters, and, perhaps related, encounters with grumpy wildlife. Visit hikesafe.com/blogs/fall-hiking-in-the-white-mountains.
QOL score: 58
Net change:+4
QOL this week: 62
What’s affecting your Quality of Life here in New Hampshire? Let us know at news@hippopress.com.