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Health department highlights student fentanyl-awareness challenge, names two winners
Summary
Caldwell County Health Department staff described a Fentanyl Awareness Challenge for high-school students, recognized winners Gavin Keyes and LaLana Tankai, and credited funding from Via Health and Bernhardt Furniture to expand student projects into community outreach.
Ruth Flanagan, a public health educator at the Caldwell County Health Department, presented the Hope for Caldwell Coalition’s Fentanyl Awareness Challenge and announced two winners from the 2025–26 school year. “This is an opportunity for teens to develop creative ways to educate their peers on the risk of fentanyl use,” Flanagan said.
Flanagan recognized Gavin Keyes, a sophomore at High Brighton High School, for a social‑media video project, and LaLana Tankai, a South Caldwell High School freshman, for a poster campaign; the county plans to print and distribute copies of the poster and embed a QR code linking to the video to increase reach. Flanagan said funding from Via Health and Bernhardt Furniture supported prize awards and project development.
A prerecorded video shown to the board emphasized that street fentanyl is often pressed into counterfeit pills and can be deadly even in a single dose; the video urged anyone seeing an overdose to call 911 and directed residents to Caldwell County recovery and mobile‑crisis resources. Flanagan and commissioners praised the students’ work; Vice Chair Mike Labrose invited the students forward for photos and presented challenge coins.
The presentation was informational; no board action was required.
