The El Dorado City Council's two newest members immediately hit the ground running after being welcomed during the council's first regular meeting earlier this week.
Council Members Jill Weinischke (Ward 1, Position 2) and Andre Rucks (Ward 3, Position 2) joined other city officials on the council dais Monday after winning their respective races in the 2024 Preferential Primary and General Elections.
Rucks previously served on the city council, while Weinischke is a neophyte to the city government office.
Her first order of business as a council member was an announcement about an upcoming training session to teach participants how to administer Narcan as an emergency treatment during a drug overdose.
Weinischke said two sessions are scheduled for noon and 5:30 p.m. Jan. 23 in the Council Chamber of City Hall.
The training is free and open to the public. Weinischke urged area residents to participate.
It is the second such session she will have conducted in City Hall in the past year.
Several city officials attended the first session in mid 2024.
"I have said ... she does a very good job in 45, 50 minutes of teaching you how to actually use the Narcan kit," Mayor Paul Choate said.
Weinischke -- prevention director of eXtreme Youth Programs, a SHARE Foundation program -- explained that the training and Narcan kits are funded by a $26,220 grant that was awarded in 2024 to the TOUCH (Tremendous Opportunities for Union County Health Coalition) by the Arkansas Opioid Recovery Partnership.
The AORP is an initiative that was launched by the Arkansas Municipal League and the Association of Arkansas Counties, representing a network of organizations that are committed to providing support for Arkansans in recovery from addiction.
Weinischke said the grant was funneled through the AORP's Naloxone Community Hero Project, whose objective is "to disburse naloxone and provide training in its use to persons who are at risk of overdose or their families or friends who want to carry naloxone to save the life of someone experiencing an overdose."
Narcan, a brand name, contains the active drug Naloxone, which is used to reverse or reduce the effects of a drug overdose.
Weinischke said the grant was used to purchase 550 Narcan kits, each which contains two packs of the Narcan nasal spray.
The objectives of the training is to teach participants:
What opioids are and how addictive they can be.
How to use Narcan/Naloxone (free kits provided).
How the state's "Good Samaritan" law applies and protects residents who deploy emergency, life-saving measures with the use of Narcan during an overdose.
Council Member Judy Ward shared her experience with the training session that Weinischke offered last year in City Hall and recommended that fellow city officials and audience members take the class.
"Most of us on the council went to that training and she does a wonderful job. And it's short, it's to the point and it's not drawn out," Ward said.
Council Member Buddy McAdams asked if council members who underwent the training in 2024 have to be recertified and Weinischke said no.
She also said TOUCH and the SHARE Foundation are looking to offer the training to high school seniors in Union County.
In 2023, the El Dorado Police Department noted a rise in vaping among local teens and said officers had responded to several reports of multiple overdoses among teens and adults involving the use of vape pens that had been laced with illegal drugs, including fentanyl, ecstasy and amphetamines.
"You know high school seniors go through CPR training now and we're just following that up with the Narcan training so they can have more tools to help save lives in their toolbelt if a Narcan situation comes up," Wienischke said.
The effort is an extension of her work as SHARE's prevention director of eXtreme Youth Programs, which focus on drug prevention and reducing alcohol, nicotine, marijuana and prescription drug-use among youth.
For more information about the Narcan training, call Weinischke at 870-881-9015, Ext. 6.
Resolutions
The city council passed resolutions Monday expressing appreciation for the service of former Council Members Frank Hash and Roy Bullock, who were defeated in primary elections last March by Weinischke and Rucks, respectively.
Hash, who served two terms as mayor from 2011 until 2018, was elected to the Ward 3, Position 2 council seat in 2022.
Rucks, also a familiar face on the city council, had represented Ward 3, Position 2 from 2019 until 2022.
He lost the seat to the late George Calloway, Jr., in the 2022 primary election.
After Calloway resigned from the seat due to health issues in mid-2023, Bullock was appointed to fill the remainder of the term, which expired Dec. 31, 2024.
Bullock was sworn in Aug. 10, just a day after Calloway passed away.
Rucks edged out Bullock during the 2024 primaries last March and survived a challenge from opponent Corey Williams, Sr., during the General Election months later.
"And I'd like to add my thank you to Mr. Bullock, who's in the house today. He stepped in at a very difficult time for the city," Choate said, pointing to Bullock in the audience.
In reference to Hash, Choate said the former mayor "brought back a lot of institutional knowledge" to the council.