Claire Fiddian-Green is the President & CEO of the Richard M. Fairbanks Foundation. Yesterday the Indianapolis Motor Speedway announced its plan to make its grandstands completely smoke-free starting this fall. We applaud IMS President Doug Boles and Hulman & Company President and CEO Mark D. Miles for their bold leadership when it comes to protecting the health of Hoosiers and IMS fans from across the globe. A study released by the Richard M. Fairbanks Foundation last September showed that Indiana’s tobacco epidemic – an often-overlooked issue – costs our state more than 12,000 lives and $6.8 billion annually. And a report we released earlier this month found that Hoosier smokers […]

Claire Fiddian-Green is the President & CEO of the Richard M. Fairbanks Foundation. In 2014, more than 1,100 Hoosiers died as a result of drug poisoning – greater than the number of fatalities from car accidents – with prescription opioid misuse and heroin use responsible for a majority of these deaths. In response to the growing crisis, in 2015 the Richard M. Fairbanks Foundation established a goal of reducing opioid use disorder, including prescription drug misuse and heroin use. The number of opioid-related overdose deaths continued to climb nationwide in the following years, reaching upwards of 2,400 deaths in Indiana alone. In 2017, the opioid crisis was formally declared a […]