CINCINNATI -- Hundreds of people are expected to pack Xavier University's Cintas Center Tuesday, coming together in the fight against heroin and its secondhand effects on children of addicts.
The Silent Victims Conference, put on by GLAD House and Cincinnati Children's Hospital from 8 a.m. to 5 p.m. Tuesday, is designed to help professionals working with children in every stage of development from birth to age 18. Teachers, social workers, counselors and virtually any kind of medical professional that works with children have been encouraged to attend.
Senators Rob Portman and Sherrod Brown, along with Hamilton County Sheriff Jim Neil will be in attendance. Portman and Neil are running in this year's election and have focused on heroin during their terms.
Event organizers say the conference sold out at its cap of 650 attendees within weeks (with no advertising) and has a waiting list in place, which they say demonstrates the community's need for solutions.
Speakers will address the problems from the local, regional and national levels. The national keynote speakers are Robert W. Block, MD (professor emeritus at the University of Oklahoma School of Community Medicine) and Jerry Moe, MA (national director of children's programs at the Betty Ford Center).
