In May 2020, the Hamilton County Coalition (HCC) worked with the State of Tennessee, Department of Mental Health and Substance Abuse Services and Tennessee American Water to make mediation safety equipment easily and safely accessible to Hamilton County residents.
To receive a free and valuable resource of a Helix Prescription Medication Lockbox and a Deterra Drug Deactivation Pouch, all anyone has to do is visit the HCC website (www.hccoalition.org) or call 423-305-1449 to order and request a No-Contact Pickup outside the HCC office.
After garnering local media attention, the HCC began noticing requests coming from residents outside of Hamilton County. With a new goal of making medication safety equipment easily and safely accessible to everyone in Southeast Tennessee, the HCC partnered with the Bradley Prevention Coalition to create a hub where Bradley County residents could conveniently pickup lockboxes and Deterra pouches.
On July 1, 2020, the HCC had helped distribute over 300 medication lockboxes and 400 Deterra Pouches to Southeast Tennessee residents at no cost.
"In this time where a lot of families, especially children and young adults, are around the home more, it's common for people to be accidental drug dealers," Camilla Bibbs-Lee, Executive Director of the Hamilton County Coalition said. "Our focus is to have the proper medication safety equipment in as many homes as possible. Our partnerships are helping us accomplish that. Hopefully we can establish hubs all around Southeast Tennessee to make orders and pickups easy for everyone."