Jersey Shore University wins AMA Grant to educate youth about prescription medication safety

Jersey Shore University Medical Center was recently awarded an American Medical Association (AMA) Foundation Healthy Living Grant to educate youth about prescription medication safety.

Jersey Shore received the grant to launch an educational prescription medication safety and misuse campaign directed at high school students and their parents. The grant will help promote education to high school students about prescription medication safety and the dangers of misusing these drugs.

In 2012, the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention noted that prescription drug misuse is the fastest growing drug problem in the United States. A national survey released this year found that prescription drug abuse among youth has increased 33 percent over the past five years. This is the third year that the AMA Foundation has awarded grants to support prescription medication safety through its Healthy Living Grant Program.

According to Steven Kairys, M.D. MPH, chair of Pediatrics at Jersey Shore and co-medical director of K. Hovnanian Children's Hospital, "Prescription drug abuse continues to rise, but support from the Healthy Living Grant enables us to provide valuable education and awareness programs targeted to reducing the misuse of prescription medications in high school students. We are confident this grant will help make a real difference in the lives of teens and in our community."