During his five years as a law enforcement officer in Lincoln, Brandon Vakiner saw the worst in “drunks” and drug abusers.
“My exposure to drug and alcohol addiction was picking up the local drunks and taking them to the detox center, or taking people in with mental health addictions,” said Vakiner, now a third-year student in the College of Pharmacy. “Almost all of my exposure was negative.”
That changed when Vakiner attended the Pharmacy Section of the University of Utah School on Alcoholism and Other Drug Dependencies. Students who attend the one-week summer course learn from some of the nation’s foremost experts on how to detect and treat people with alcohol and other drug addictions. The school’s greatest impact, attendees say, comes when they hear personal testimonials from those who are battling or recovering from drug and alcohol dependency.
“My perspective was expanded greatly when I went to the school,” said Vakiner, a Snyder native. “I saw the human side of addiction, the process of addiction. I didn’t really understand how people could get sucked into that until I went to the school. It was a huge awakening, an eye-opener.”
Jeffrey Baldwin, Pharm.D., associate professor of pharmacy practice, coordinates the College of Pharmacy’s courses on substance abuse and addiction recovery. He said the personal testimonials the students hear at the Utah school are experiences not possible to provide in Omaha.
“They have an opportunity to talk to people who are recovering from addiction,” Dr. Baldwin said. “That’s a very valuable and powerful tool for learning.”
Each year, Dr. Baldwin and about 15 to 20 students attend the school in Salt Lake City, Utah. For two credit hours, they attend all of the week’s session and write a topic paper about what they’ve learned. The Pharmacy Section offers topics ranging from the pharmacology, identification, evaluation, referral and treatment of addictions to health professional addiction and assistance, recovery support and personal wellness. A family intervention demonstration and a group therapy session with clients from a local treatment center are especially meaningful experiences for students who attend. Meetings of 12-step support groups, such as Alcoholics Anonymous, Narcotics Anonymous and Al-Anon, are held each evening and are open to all section participants.
Dana Damrow, a third-year pharmacy student from Diller, said she, too, found the testimonials powerful. She also learned to appreciate “the small things in life that we often take for granted, for these are the things that will bring you happiness and satisfaction.”
As a professional pharmacist, Damrow said, she learned how to be there for someone with an addiction without enabling him or her to continue down that destructive path.
“For people who have a substance abuse problem, there is help available, and it should be sought out,” Damrow said.
Vakiner said that the experience allowed him to see the human side of those addicted to alcohol and drugs.
“When I was a police officer, I saw people at probably their absolute worst,” he said. “This course made it more human; this school allowed me to experience the other side.”