The latest episode of "The UMB Pulse" will be released Friday, Oct. 6.
October is National Substance Abuse Prevention Month, and “The UMB Pulse” podcast is proud to share a poignant “homegrown” story about how Melanie Yates, LMSW, a 2023 graduate of the University of Maryland School of Social Work, began making a tremendous impact here in Maryland before she even walked across the stage.
It began for Yates’ boyfriend, Josh Siems, like so many addiction cases do — with an OxyContin pill shared by a college friend — and his addiction spiraled over the years. Despite periods of sobriety, it progressed from pills to heroin to fentanyl. And sadly, in 2022, Siems died on his 31st birthday from a fentanyl overdose. But when Yates and Siems’ parents and siblings got the medical reports, they were shocked to find no evidence of fentanyl in his system.
Fast-forward to when Yates, grieving Siems’ death and trying to finish graduate school, fought to convince Maryland lawmakers that improving fentanyl testing in hospital admissions would make a small but important contribution to the fight against opioids — and it just might save lives with better and more timely data.
On this episode, “The Pulse” learns more about how this transpired and discusses the legislation that became effective Oct. 1, 2023.
A word of caution to our listeners: This episode tackles conversations about addiction, overdose, and family loss.