Claire Fiddian-Green is the President & CEO of the Richard M. Fairbanks Foundation. There’s no question that opioid addiction is wreaking havoc in communities across Indiana, including in Indianapolis. The latest figures show that, in 2016, there were 18.9 opioid poisoning deaths in Marion County per 100,000 residents – which translates into 171 lives lost. What’s worse, a new study from the University of Virginia finds opioid poisoning deaths are likely much higher than official figures reported in Indiana and other states. Two years ago, in November 2015, the Richard M. Fairbanks Foundation adopted new funding priorities, one of which is to tackle the opioid crisis in Indianapolis. The first […]

Alex Cohen is the Director of Learning and Evaluation for the Richard M. Fairbanks Foundation. The dangers of smoking are well-known. Smokers are more likely to die from lung cancer, heart disease, lung disease and other deadly illnesses, not to mention the health risks caused by secondhand smoke exposure or the impacts to newborns caused by smoking among pregnant women. Yet smoking still persists—for example, more than 1 in 5 Hoosiers currently smoke—in large part due to the addictive effects of nicotine. More than two-thirds of smokers want to quit, but nicotine keeps smokers smoking and consuming the other carcinogens and toxicants for the long term. What if it was […]