Adena Health System recently played in instrumental role in helping tell the story of “Heroin’s Children,” a documentary produced by Al Jazeera USA set in Chillicothe.
The series garnered three nominations as announced recently by the National Academy of Television Arts & Sciences ahead of the 39th annual news and documentary Emmy Awards. The nominations included Best Story in a News Magazine, Outstanding Medical report and Outstanding Editing.
With “Heroin’s Children” Al Jazeera USA’s weekly program Fault Lines looked at the “invisible victims” of the country’s opioid crisis — a generation of children who are being neglected, abandoned or orphaned by parents addicted to heroin.
The program’s staff traveled to Chillicothe multiple times throughout the past year to meet a teenager who lost both her parents to drugs; a mother whose heroin addiction led her to overdose in front of her young son; a grandmother unexpectedly raising four granddaughters; pregnant women struggling with addiction; and police and firefighters responding to harrowing overdose scenes.
Adena Health System provided unparalleled access to its nationally acclaimed Centering Pregnancy and Baby-Centered Recovery programs. The series included interviews with leading voices in this battle, including Dr. John Gabis, primary care provider with Adena Family Medicine, chair of the Heroin Partnership Project (HPP) and Ross County coroner; and Donna Collier-Stepp, Adena women and children’s licensed independent social worker supervisor.
“We are grateful that this important story could get more attention,” said Laila Al-Arian, senior producer of Fault Lines. “The film could not have been done without the help and permission to film at Adena. I believe the scene featuring the pregnant women was extremely powerful and memorable. I hope it leads to more awareness.”
The Emmy-nominated program can be viewed at www.aljazeera.com/faultlines.
The 39th annual news and documentary Emmy Awards will be presented on Monday, Oct. 1 at Jazz at Lincoln Center’s Frederick P. Rose Hall in New York City.
For more about Adena Health System, visit www.adena.org, or visit its pages on Facebook, Instagram, or Twitter @adenamedical.
