Film’s subjects, director to speak after showing

The Netflix documentary Heroin(e) will be shown at Ohio University Southern on Nov. 28 and the stars will speak after the showing.

The 40-minute documentary features about three women in Huntington, West Virginia and their efforts to combat the opioid crisis that has engulfed the region. The film follows Jan Rader, Huntington Fire Department chief and Ohio University Southern alumni, Brown Bag Ministries founder Necia Freeman, and Cabell Huntington drug court Judge Patricia Keller as they deal with being on the front lines of fighting drug abuse.

The showing of Heroin(e) will be at OUS’s Bowman Auditorium from 4-5:30 p.m. on Nov. 28. The event is being done in conjunction with the Office of Diversity and Inclusion.

Mary Ann Wymer, OUS advising specialist, said that associate dean of Student and Academic Affairs Dr. Salome Nnoromele had seen a presentation of Heroin(e) and asked to bring it in.

“We would love to fill up the auditorium, because there isn’t a person in this community that doesn’t need to see this film,” Wymer said. “It’s a great film and I hope everyone attends. There is no charge for the event.”

Wymer said that besides the documentary and the panel discussion, there will be informational booths set up by agencies that deal with the drug problem.

“We want to get this information out to people who might need treatement,” she said. “We have different treatment centers and agencies that will be here.”

She said local officials have been invited as well including Ironton Mayor Katrina Keith, Lawrence County Prosecutor Brigham Anderson, Common Pleas Court Judge Andy Ballard and future Ironton Municipal Court judge Kevin Waldo.

Rader has said she got involved after independent West Virginia filmmakers Elaine McMillion Sheldon and her husband, Kerrin Sheldon, came to Huntington to do a documentary on how the city was dealing with the opioid crisis.

“They came down here and wanted to do some filming, they didn’t know exactly what direction they were going to go,” Rader said. She said the pair came to Huntington multiple times over a year to do filming before Rader became chief in March 2016 and became the first female fire chief of a professional fire department in West Virginia.