Dr. Jerry Askew, President of Alliance for Better Nonprofits (ABN), came to the EF 203 course on Thursday, August 30 to speak to Heath IBEP students about the opioid crisis in the United States.
Since arriving in Knoxville in 1985, Dr. Askew has served as Dean of Students and Associate Vice Chancellor for Development and Alumni Affairs at the University of Tennessee, President of the East Tennessee Foundation, and Senior Vice President of the St. Mary’s/Mercy Health Systems. Additionally, Dr. Askew has also served on the boards of over 40 nonprofit organizations. He holds a BA from the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill, MS from the University of Memphis, and PhD from The Ohio State University.
Dr. Askew spoke about possible predictors of opioid addiction and the importance of attacking the root causes. He explained the root causes of opioid addiction to be: assumptions about the right to a pain-free life, direct consumer marketing, false claims from drug companies, over-prescription, lack of alternative therapies, and a cycle of despair. Sascha Richey, a business analytics student in the Heath IBEP, stated that Dr. Askew is “especially concerned with attending to disadvantaged youth, as certain conditions make them more prone to addiction.”
A chemical engineering student in the program, Ben Koester, summarized Dr. Askew’s beliefs on the spiritual struggle that people with addition have by saying: “They need to believe they have something to live for and a reason to live beyond the high. If people don’t believe they can amount to anything or that their situation can change, then why even bother? Drugs are their way of escape”.