[00:00:07] Speaker A: And welcome back to another episode of just say something's weekly podcast. My name is Philip Clark, and I am the CEO here at just say something in Greenville. And you can always find us on the World Wide
[email protected]. or you can also use that good old technology called a telephone and reach us at 864-467-4099 so today I'm happy to have a new friend and a new partner in this work that we're doing as part of the power collective to where we are providing resources, mental health, substance use, prevention, education, awareness. And so, as I've always said, that the issues that our community faces is larger than any one entity. So today, I would like to welcome with us Tyra Lawrence from Crossroads Treatment center. So, Tyra, welcome.
[00:01:16] Speaker B: Hey, Phil. Thank you so much for having me.
[00:01:19] Speaker A: Absolutely. So tell us about. Tell our audience about Crossroads treatment center.
[00:01:26] Speaker B: Okay, well, Crossroads Treatment centers is an outpatient opioid addiction facility. So we actually deal with people that are addicted to opioids, such as heroin, fentanyl, oxycodone. And, you know, this is my favorite line. As the kids say, codeine or lean, they rape about it, they sing about it, they celebrate it. But we want to make sure that prevention and knowledge is key.
[00:01:48] Speaker A: Okay. All right, so we'll address this now, but then we'll, at the end, we'll do it again. If someone needs your services, how do they get in touch with you?
[00:01:59] Speaker B: Well, we actually have a telephone line which is 24/7 we're open 24 hours a day, seven days a week. We do instant intakes as well as they can reach us on a
[email protected].
[00:02:13] Speaker A: And what's that phone number?
[00:02:14] Speaker B: Their phone number is one. Hold on one moment.
[00:02:20] Speaker A: I know I told you that you need to turn your phone off, but then you needed it.
[00:02:24] Speaker B: Yeah, I do. I'm sorry.
[00:02:25] Speaker A: That's okay. That's okay.
[00:02:26] Speaker B: That's all right. Because we can read. Get that number right quick.
[00:02:29] Speaker A: So. And while you're looking for that, let's go ahead. And so I would like for you to tell our listeners how you and I first met and a little bit about your passion, why you feel so strongly about what we're doing in opioid prevention and awareness.
[00:02:51] Speaker B: All right, so how we first met. So let's make sure we set the record straight. Phil had to correct me on it today. You had to correct me on it today and say, no, that's not where we first met. So then I had a read. You know, I had a recall. So Phil and I actually met in April of this year at National Drug take back day. It was myself. Phil sat right next to me, and you know me with my outgoing personality. Hey, my name is Tyra. Who are you? So that's how Phil and I met. We were doing national Drug take back day, and I became aware of how your company and your organization actually does so much in the community and the locking prescription bottles. So I was able to actually get those bottles from you that day. And we've been working together. I think I've spoken to you at least once a week since.
[00:03:37] Speaker A: At least then.
[00:03:38] Speaker B: At least.
[00:03:38] Speaker A: If not more.
[00:03:39] Speaker B: If I'm not stalking them more.
[00:03:42] Speaker A: Pretty much. Pretty much. And so your passion for this line of work, where does that come from? Within Tyra.
[00:03:53] Speaker B: Okay, so let me start off by saying one of two things. The first thing is that I'm a child of a parent that was a sick, addicted to drugs. It was not opioids, but my mom was a ongoing, functioning social cocaine user. Okay, so that was the first. That was one of the. I remember something as young as eight years old. Me wanting to be with my mom and smelling the weed smoke up underneath the door, and she not coming out, and me not getting the attention that I actually wanted and required as a child. Um, but the overall factor was in 2019. My cousin overdosed on heroin.
I was responsible for her obituary.
I wanted to make sure that on the back of it, we put, you know, if you are suffering from substance abuse, please reach out to this number. I got fought on it, and just. Just her dying and her leaving her child in the hospital and, you know, just thinking I lived it. I'm from Philadelphia, so I'm not sure if you know that, but I'm from Philadelphia, and I lived at Kensington and Allegheny. Well, if anyone knows about opioid use in Pennsylvania, Philadelphia is the hotspot for it all. In Kensington and Allegheny is exactly. So I left in 2014, and probably within a year or so of me leaving, the drugs started getting out of hand in that area. So when I go back to Philadelphia, it's like I'm right at home, but just seeing my home destructed, destroyed by the drug addiction. So being able to do this, being able to reach out to the people in the community that are suffering from oudhood or just homelessness or anything, I love it. I love every. It took me 45 years. I'm not telling my age, but it took me 45 years to find a career that was right. For me, this is it.
[00:05:43] Speaker A: So you're now in Greenville, South Carolina.
And what parallels do you see between what you left in Philadelphia, Greenville today.
[00:05:58] Speaker B: And when you say parallels, can you explain it to me? I'm sorry.
[00:06:00] Speaker A: So what is was going on in Philadelphia with the drugs and those things, and then being here in Greenville, what do you see as far as the drugs? Is there a parallel? Do you see the same thing? What's different about Greenville than Philadelphia?
[00:06:22] Speaker B: Greenville ain't got nothing on Philly. That's how bad it is here in Greenville? No, in Philly.
[00:06:27] Speaker A: Okay. Okay.
[00:06:30] Speaker B: We're talking about. Can I get you a brief story?
[00:06:33] Speaker A: Yeah.
[00:06:34] Speaker B: All right. So if I was in Philly, this was last year. This year. Oh, see that?
[00:06:40] Speaker A: We can edit that out.
[00:06:42] Speaker B: Okay, I'm sorry.
So I was in Philly last year with Daenerys. She's our community engagement specialist in Philadelphia. And as I was there with Daenery, it's destitute everywhere. We volunteered as savage sisters. We volunteered at prevention point in Philadelphia. And the wounds from the drugs that they're using, tranq and not even a heroin or anything. The tranq sores are so bad that their skin smells like rotting. Men eating flesh disease.
They're walking around with jackets on, still shooting up through those jackets. And then when the summertime comes and they take the jackets off, guess what you're finding? Maggots and sores and their flesh barely gone.
So you walk outside here in Greenville, you would never see, you're not seeing it yet, but it's coming. It's coming. We're having people testing positive for trink left and right.
[00:07:53] Speaker A: So for those of our listeners that don't have a clue what you're talking about, when you say trink, what is that?
[00:07:59] Speaker B: Trink is called the original name of trink. The medical name for it is xylazine.
[00:08:04] Speaker A: Okay.
[00:08:05] Speaker B: Xylazine is an animal tranquilizer that is not fit for human consumption. And what's happening is humans are consumed. Humans are consuming it, and they're consuming it, and it's causing major issues like the flesh eating bacteria, the open sores, the sores that look like big system with pus filled in there. If you're putting something in your body that's not supposed to be there, right, what is it going to do? It's going to try to come out. And when it comes out, it leaves big black pus bubbles all over your skin.
[00:08:35] Speaker A: So as we talk about xylazine, I know most people are very familiar with fentanyl.
So xylazine is even worse than fentanyl.
[00:08:53] Speaker B: And they're mixing it with fentanyl.
[00:08:54] Speaker A: Right.
[00:08:55] Speaker B: So let me ask you a question, Phil. If me and you were selling drugs, right, just hypothetically speaking, and we went out there and we said to the drug. To the drug addict, or, you know, the person with the use disorder, we went out there to them and we said to them, hey, Phil got it for ten. Tyra got it for eight. I mean, for three. Who you think they gonna come to?
[00:09:16] Speaker A: Oh, they coming to you?
[00:09:17] Speaker B: Well, that's how. Well, then, that they're coming for their tranq, because tranq is $3 on the streets, where heroin is ten, regular fentanyl is ten. And then I just want to make sure that everyone is.
Everyone is just. Well, not, you know, just aware that we have another one that just came out, and it begins with the m. I'm not really too familiar with the name of it.
[00:09:39] Speaker A: Okay.
[00:09:40] Speaker B: But we have a new drug that came out with the m, because what happened is tranq got classified as a narcotic, so it's illegal now. So. But when they were trying, in the process of making trink illegal, the drug dealers were creating something new, because it's going to take them another five years to catch up to this new one right there. They're still talking about tranq, and they're still talking about xylazine or tranq. And we're already on something new that's already hit the streets.
[00:10:05] Speaker A: And I would be willing to say most of our listeners have no idea what tranq or xylazine is. Well, they all hear about fentanyl, and so we are. This new one that's come out, that's with an m, is probably ten years ahead of, in reality, of where people are thinking, where we are with fentanyl, really, fentanyl is. Is not used as much as it was because they're replacing fentanyl with xylazine. They're mixing and they're mixing, and then they're going to end up mixing that with the new one that's even going to be deadlier.
Deadlier metatomid.
[00:10:56] Speaker B: So it's spelled me d e t o m I d I n e. So it's like meditine.
[00:11:05] Speaker A: I don't know, something like that.
[00:11:06] Speaker B: Something like that. But it's already hitting, so. And then, you know what I said today? We don't even have a cure for shrink. Like, for if you do fentanyl, of course, that's oud. So that's opioid use disorder. We can use brixiety. We can use suboxone. We can use methadone. Those are three treatments for Oud. Right, but when you get to trink, they have. They have testing strips, but they have no medicine. Secure your addiction.
[00:11:33] Speaker A: Right.
[00:11:33] Speaker B: For tranquil unit xylazine. So if we don't have anything for trinker xylazine right now, imagine what we're gonna. What's gonna happen with the Met that. With the metadine metadata. You know, the n word. What's gonna happen with that one.
[00:11:47] Speaker A: Right?
[00:11:48] Speaker B: And we can't. We're still. We just got that classified as a. As a narcotic, and we don't have a. Have a cure for it or treatment options for it. So now we're going into the Met, and now we. This is a new drug. It's going to take years to get it classified. So, like you said, ten years. I believe it. I believe it.
[00:12:08] Speaker A: So let's. Let's take that and go back. And so Crossroads treatment Center is a national.
A business. You're a for profit business.
[00:12:22] Speaker B: Yes, but we're not national. We're within the United. We're in the United States, so we're within the country. We actually have over 100 locations, and we take over nine states from Pennsylvania all the way down to Texas.
[00:12:35] Speaker A: Okay. And your corporate headquarters is here in Greenville?
[00:12:38] Speaker B: Here in Greenville, where you can find me.
[00:12:40] Speaker A: Right, right. So tell us. Tell our listeners in the time we have left, we have about five or six minutes. Tell our listeners about some of your community outreach, and then we'll kind of go on from there. But I know I had you come in to do a training for our staff.
[00:13:03] Speaker B: Yes.
[00:13:03] Speaker A: So tell us about what you're able to go into a community or a business or an organization and do.
[00:13:10] Speaker B: Okay, so I am Tyra large. I am a certified Narcan trainer. So I train people on how to properly use Narcan. I am also a certified certified community health worker, as well as I am a harm reduction coordinator for a crossroads. So I just go out into the community to give back to the community and bring awareness about our programs and services.
[00:13:35] Speaker A: So tell us. So we were with you at one of your programs this past Friday.
[00:13:40] Speaker B: Yeah, me and Stacy. Yeah.
[00:13:42] Speaker A: Yeah. So where were you and what was your goal for that event?
[00:13:45] Speaker B: So, if you're from Greenville, you're familiar with Piedmont Manor, but if you're not from Greenville, you would call it Waters of Ed Agusta. It's a low income housing community. We've actually waited two years to get into this community, and we did a back to school drive. Your people actually brought book bags, which the community was actually happy for. We also partnered with DHEC, which is. What is the name of DHS, or.
[00:14:09] Speaker A: DPA, department of Public Health.
[00:14:12] Speaker B: Now, they were there. We had the connectivity people there that can hook you up with, like a cell phone.
We had Oak street health there.
We had Doctor Simpson there. We had servants for sight there. And that was really, really big for me because servants of sight, they do actually do the eye screenings for you. And if you're under 2040, they'll refer you to an ophthalmologist for additional resource, additional assistance. Snap Ed was there from Clemson.
Keller Williams was there to help people if they're looking for ownership of homes and SC works was there. So it was just a great event. We actually gave out over 50 meals, 20 eye exams, and doctor Simpson gave out all of his toothbrushes and toothpaste and cards and things like that.
[00:14:54] Speaker A: Wonderful, wonderful. All right, so we have an event coming up next week. So on Wednesday, August 21. And we. I found out about this particular movie from you, from our many conversations.
[00:15:09] Speaker B: And you came to a pre screen.
[00:15:11] Speaker A: I did. So tell our listeners about what we're doing next Wednesday, August 21 at Camelot.
[00:15:22] Speaker B: All right, so thank you to Phil and all of our other partners. Rise 988 power collective unity health on Maine. And if I've left anyone out, it's my mind, not my heart.
But we will be viewing Fenton, Ohio. Fenton, Ohio is a documentary created by a student by the name of Kyle Santoro. Kyle is actually in California, and he did a documentary. Documentary just talking about the peer pressure that our students are facing our children. Not just students our children are facing in high school, and as well as how they. How they're dealing with overdoses, because it's happening in our schools, as well as how to have that discussion with your kids. And it just. The movie was just so amazing because the drops of when the parents are talking to the kids, but we can't hear what they're saying. It just was like, I wonder how that conversation is going.
[00:16:15] Speaker A: Right?
[00:16:15] Speaker B: What are they saying?
[00:16:16] Speaker A: Right.
[00:16:16] Speaker B: So we'll get the be able, with the help of your team, will have role playing at the event that will actually teach our parents in the community how to talk to their children about drugs, as well as we'll have a panel where the students and the parents, and even us as professionals can discuss and ask questions. So it's just going to be a great event. We're going to have to all of our. We still have some vending tables available, but we have rise, and all of. Everyone will be there. They're going to actually set up and just give information and hand out things will be there to set up as well.
[00:16:48] Speaker A: Right.
[00:16:49] Speaker B: This is going to be a rocking event.
[00:16:50] Speaker A: Okay. All right, so, um, I'm going to review a little bit about that and talk about our partners. While I'm doing that, you look up your phone number, um, for those that need your services so they can reach out. So, again, the movie is Fenton, Ohio. We are doing this Wednesday, August 21, at Camelot here in Greenville on Antrim Drive. And it's a partnership with the power collective and with Crossroads Treatment center. And within the power collective, it's. Just. Say something. It's our friends at rise prevention. It's our friends at Nami, Greenville, South Carolina. It's mental Health America, Greenville county, also known as 988. And it's our friends at Unity Health on Maine. And so we will individually have tables set up in the lobby of the Camelot movie theater for you to get information about our programs and what we have available. But we will also have on hand lockable prescription vials that you can get for free. Because one of the things that we know, that if your medicines are locked, then they're less likely to be pilfered or taken, because if you are a victim of pilfering, they're only taking one or two. They don't want you to know that they're. That you're supplying them. So this has resulted, can result in major reduction of pilfering instances and overdoses.
[00:18:40] Speaker B: So we'll also have Narcan here.
[00:18:42] Speaker A: Yep.
[00:18:42] Speaker B: Yeah.
[00:18:43] Speaker A: Yes. Because I know Miss Tyra doesn't leave home without her Narcan.
[00:18:47] Speaker B: Not at all.
[00:18:48] Speaker A: She has it with her everywhere she goes, and I appreciate that with her or in having that partnership with her. So, as we wrap this up, I want one more. So I want two things from you. One, is there one thing that you would like our listeners to know about Crossroads treatment center, and then how do they get in touch?
[00:19:13] Speaker B: All right, so the one thing that I do want you to know at Crossroads treatment centers is we're not just a dose and go facility. We are a facility where you actually come into our facility, and you will have a counselor, you will have peer support available for you. For the first, I believe it's 90 to 100 days. So we don't just get you in the door and send you right out. We get you in the door. We actually. What services you need any housing. If you need referrals for your driver's license because your license is suspended, we. We provide you with all information that we have accessible. We do patient appreciations. I mean, we're just a limitless organization.
And I just want you to know that if you ever need to get in contact with us or you know someone that is suffering from oud, you can always reach us at 1855-694-8288 and make sure you let them know Tyra sent you.
[00:20:01] Speaker A: Okay. Well, Tyra, thank you so much for being with us today, and we need to have you back in a few more weeks, and we can talk about other things that are going on that we're partnering with in the community.
So thank you again for joining us today for just say something's weekly podcast. My name is Philip Clark, and remember, if you need to reach us, we are at area code 806 4467-4099 or you can find us on the web at Red Book. Boy, that went back at just say something sc.org. or for our opioid work, you can go to power collective sc.com. and we look forward to hopefully seeing you at the movie on Wednesday. Movie again. Fitting all high at the Camelot starting at 06:00 thanks again and hope to see you soon.
