More people died from drug overdose in the U.S. in 2016 than there were military casualties in the entire Vietnam conflict, Annie Winter told Rotary Club members last Thursday during the luncheon meeting, and 65 per cent of the 64,000 deaths were due to opioids. Fifty Eight Thousand American military casualties were suffered from 1964 to 1975.

Annie Winter, Human Resources Coordinator for Progress House in Placerville, faces increasing numbers on a daily basis. She has the responsibility for maintaining around the clock staffing for five-in-house facilities in El Dorado County, with a total count of 80 beds. She says Progress House's mission "is to provide quality comprehensive services for persons and communities whose lives have been affected by addiction."  The facilities provide a continuum of comprehensive, evidence-based services, including detoxification, residential, outpatient treatment and transitional living.