The Chilhowee Park and Exposition Center at 3301 E. Magnolia Ave. in Knoxville will host the 2022 Women’s Spectacular on Nov. 18-19. It’s being billed as East Tennessee’s ultimate expo for women’s health and wellness. Aside from nutrition, home care and the like, though, attention will be given to behavioral health, including addiction recovery. That’s where Landmark Recovery comes in to workshop the component of women’s health that deals with freedom from addiction. WATE 6 ABC News will be onsite with anchors Tearsa Smith, Allison Smith, Lexi Spivak, Lori Tucker and Paige Weeks. Over 90 organizations are expected to be represented at the event, including U.S. Military branches, healthcare companies, fitness brands, home repair vendors and entertainment. The event also involves a giveaway in which attendees could win a $2,000 Louis Vuitton purse!
Women’s Spectacular: Health & Wellness Summit
The two day event will open the convention center doors from 2 p.m. to 6 p.m. Friday and again from 9 a.m. to 4 p.m. Saturday. Friday will
involve a live recording of WATE 6 program Living East Tennessee with host, Tala Shatara. Saturday will host a wealth of events from a Women’s Basketball Hall of Fame panel to a self-defense workshop.
Landmark Recovery will be providing mocktails for attendees. Landmark Clinical Director Michele Dubey will also serve as a guest on the live-recorded talk show to address the overdose surge and women’s share thereof. That discussion will also deal with how the stigma of addiction affects women. Landmark will separately be introducing the suite of services provided at Landmark Recovery of Knoxville.
On both Friday and Saturday, Landmark will also present a mocktail demonstration, which will allow people to taste the drinks. Then, Saturday in particular will host a panel discussion with Victoria Hoagland – executive director of operations at Landmark Recovery – and social media coordinator Josephine Campbell.
The battle against substance use disorders has the world’s attention. Women’s fight against substance abuse is unique. Many segments of healthcare have historically under-explored women’s issues. For example, medical research has been known to reinforce gender bias, which overlooked how diseases, drugs and therapy modalities affected women uniquely.
Drug overdose has touched many lives and doesn’t discriminate on the basis of gender. As such, it’s imperative that the healthcare community learn from past mistakes. In the context of substance abuse, this means paying keen attention to gynocentric data.
Alcohol and Women’s Health as Explored at Women’s Spectacular
Alcohol remains one of the most detrimental drugs worldwide. From 1990 to 2018, the U.S. saw 1.3 million deaths among working-age Americans from drugs and alcohol. According to a 2021 study published in the National Library of Medicine, Alcohol accounted for nearly a third of that by itself.
The World Health Organization published a study finding that drug addiction ranked as the most or second-most stigmatized health condition out of 18 across 12 of the 14 countries surveyed. Alcoholism in particular ranked as high as second and no lower than seventh in 13 of those countries.
This information is trending right now. Contemporary research shows alcohol abuse is increasing among women according to the National Institute on Alcohol Abuse and Alcoholism. Female drinkers bear greater risk for certain alcohol-related health complications than men, too. This is partly because alcohol sits in body water, and women carry proportionately less body water than men.
Aside from alcohol use disorder, women are at greater risk for liver damage as a result. They’re also more likely to experience heart disease and brain damage for excessive drinking.
U.S. & Knox County Drug Use and Overdose
It’s also imperative to seek opportunities to advocate the virtues of drug and alcohol rehab for any demographic regardless of gender. As such, Landmark Recovery will do its part to demonstrate as much at the 2022 Women’s Spectacular.
In the last year, about 20.4 million Americans were diagnosed with substance use disorders. The Substance Abuse and Mental Health Statistics Administration reports more than 41 million people needed rehab within that year. That’s almost twice the population of New York. Of those people, though, only four million people actually received any substance use treatment.
Last year saw 533 Knox County residents succumb to fatal drug overdoses — up from 413 in 2020. Knox County, therefore, endured a 29% uptick in drug overdose deaths. The demographic with the highest prevalence spanned the ages of 35 to 40.
However, the demographic that increased in fatal overdose most from 2020 to 2021 was between the ages of 55 and 64. Almost a third of all these drug deaths involved some kind of anxiety, antidepressant or antipsychotic medication.
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