Event Recap: An Evening of Knowledge, October 17, 2024
More than 170 guests plus others watching live online joined the GPF Foundation’s Board of Directors at Northmoor Country Club for the 7th Annual Event, our principal fundraiser. Nancy and Ross Friedman, Board Treasurer and President, respectively, gave a brief overview of Foundation accomplishments over the last 12 months.
Topping the list is that the medical simulation case on the Full-Code app has been used more than 200,000 times by medical personnel worldwide. In 2023 deaths from accidental fentanyl consumption decreased in the U.S. by about 5.5% from the previous year. We believe that the life-saving work of the GPF Foundation - and scores of other efforts - is making a difference.
Our educational programs at Hubbard High School in a southwest side neighborhood hard hit by the fentanyl crisis accelerated in 2023 and the spring and summer this year, including:
Nearly every junior and senior student completed our harm reduction training.
Incoming freshmen received trained during orientation.
All faculty and staff completed training as the new school year got underway.
In October word was received that a medical paper authored by GPF Foundation medical partners, GPFF Fellows and faculty at Rosalind Franklin University, was ready for peer review and submission to Disease-a-Month, an influential medical journal. This signals that the paper may be published in 2025, a significant milestone that validates the efficacy of the life-saving educational work created and conducted under the auspices of the GPF Foundation.
Keynote speaker Don Winslow, a New York Times best-selling author, made a return visit to share a story about the importance of “Free Public Libraries” to elaborate on the annual event’s theme (“An Evening of Knowledge”). By weaving together stories of a library in his Rhode Island hometown that inspired his writing career, and the first-ever library in his adopted home in a California ranching community devastated by wildfires, Winslow emphasized the power of people coming together for the common good whether it’s providing books or saving lives.
Larry Potash, WGN-TV news anchor, served again as master of ceremonies. He interviewed live on-stage Rick Doblin, a Skokie native who is the founder and president of the Multidisciplinary Association for Psychedelic Studies (MAPS). Since 1986 Doblin has advocated for MDMA use in clinical settings to treat those living with PTSD. The Foundation and MAPS are continuing to explore ways to jointly promote and provide harm reduction training.