Generate an explanation for the given claim using the provided supporting material from the paragraph. Please consider the following points while generating an output. 1) The claim will always have supporting proof in the paragraph, and the paragraph will have a clear point of view supporting the claim. 2) There can be instances where direct correlation to the claim is not available. Make use of the sentences in the paragraph to provide a corresponding output supporting the claim. 3) The explanation should be at least one and at most twelve sentences long.
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Question: Paragraph: “You could see how healthy and happy she was until she was introduced to that drug,” said Ann Marie Riggi-Hopkins, of Scranton. “As I progressed with the pictures, you could see how things dwindled. It just takes every part of your life away.” Raynor Bloom’s family was unaware of his opioid addiction until they received a call from his roommate. By then, it was too late. “I can’t tell you how long he struggled with addiction,” said his mother, Lynn Bloom, of Dunmore. Ferguson, 25, and Bloom, 29, were two of 69 people to die of drug overdoses in Lackawanna County last year, according to the most recent numbers posted to Overdose Free PA, a website that tracks county overdose information submitted by coroners. The 2017 number is expected to grow once all toxicology tests are completed. Fentanyl, a synthetic opioid 50 to 100 times more potent than morphine, was the most common drug observed in toxicology tests, appearing in 36 cases. Both Riggi-Hopkins and Lynn Bloom, who suspect fentanyl played roles in their children’s deaths, join a growing number of parents, both locally and nationally, to share their children’s struggles in candid obituaries. Two or three years ago, this kind of openness in obituaries was unheard of, said Jim Hood, co-founder and CEO of Facing Addiction, a Danbury, Connecticut-based advocacy organization. He likened the stigma associated with the opioid epidemic to a time when cancer, HIV and AIDS causes of death were not included in obituaries. That the obituaries are becoming more candid could be a reflection of how prevalent the epidemic is and an understanding that people are starting to look at addiction as an illness, he said. “I think it’s cathartic for parents but also helpful for the people next door, to spread the word that this is a pernicious illness that is stealing our youth,” said Hood, who lost his son to an overdose five years ago. “The more people understand that, the more people might do something about it.” According to Legacy.com, there were hundreds of obituaries published nationwide last year that included information on the struggles and dangers of heroin and opioid addiction. The Sunday Times published about a dozen obituaries last year that included information about a struggle with addiction or named an overdose as the cause of death. Locally, those only started to appear within the last two years or so, said Christopher James, funeral director at Vanston & James Funeral Home in Scranton and James Wilson Funeral Home in Lake Ariel. Some families also are being open about it during viewings or funeral services, he said. “The people who bring it to light are doing it out of genuine concern for other people,” James said. “I think that’s what folks want to do. They want to say, this is ultimately what will happen if you don’t get help.” ‘Not suffering anymore’ Riggi-Hopkins wanted her daughter’s obituary to give strength to those in recovery or family and friends grieving the loss of a loved one to addiction. The family also wanted to send a message that, with drugs like fentanyl on the streets, the problem is getting worse. “The family wants to break the silence of addiction. To anyone reading this obituary, this demon is still out on the streets waiting to kill the next innocent suffering person thinking about using or having reservations. If we can save one or several lives to the sick and suffering and spare their families, we pray that breaking the silence of addiction works,” Ferguson’s obituary reads. The response to the obituary was overwhelming, Riggi-Hopkins said. She said she received many calls of thanks and the outpouring helped her grieve and heal. Her daughter had a good life and was going places, she said. Ferguson was blessed with a strong work ethic and, despite a quiet demeanor, a love of working with people. She got a job when she was a teenager and still in school, first at Gerrity’s on Meadow Avenue in Scranton, and later, at Hobby Lobby in Dickson City. People noticed her strong customer service skills, Riggi-Hopkins said. She started at the Dickson City store putting shelves together around the time it first opened and rose to department manager. There was talk of her managing her own store somewhere, she said. She was a great mother, too, Riggi-Hopkins said. Ferguson gave birth to her daughter, Baylee, in 2011. About two years after Baylee’s birth, something happened. Ferguson made a drastic change in friends and started acting differently, her mother said. Then, the physical changes started. She lost her job. Money went missing, Riggi-Hopkins said. About a year before her death, Ferguson hit “rock bottom,” and came clean about her drug use, her mother said. She wanted help and to change for Baylee, she said. Ferguson entered rehab at Marworth Treatment Center and completed the program, but relapsed a few weeks later. She returned and then spent three months in a sober house in Dallas. Even after her daughter completed a more comprehensive program, Riggi-Hopkins said she never thought she was out of the woods in dealing with addiction. “I do understand the disease, that it’s a one-day-at-a-time disease,” her mother said. On Aug. 24, Riggi-Hopkins went with Ferguson to a job interview. She was hired. They shopped afterward and then Ferguson dropped her mother off at a friend’s house. She didn’t return to pick her up and did not answer phone calls, Riggi-Hopkins said. Riggi-Hopkins had a friend drive her home. She frantically ran upstairs to check on Baylee. Not finding her there, she ran to the basement where she found her daughter dead. Baylee lay on top of her, asleep. Beyond the anguish of losing her daughter, Riggi-Hopkins also had to explain to her granddaughter what happened. She sought help and the advice she received was to be honest. “I told her mommy took a bad drug that stopped her heart and now she’s an angel in heaven,” Riggi-Hopkins said. Baylee is doing well now, her grandmother said. The kindergartner takes piano and dance lessons. Riggi-Hopkins sees a lot of her daughter in Baylee, though the little girl is more outgoing. They talk about what happened and the good memories of Ferguson almost daily, Riggi-Hopkins said. “One thing I think that helps me is she’s not suffering anymore,” Riggi-Hopkins said. ‘Losing a generation’ For their son’s obituary, the Blooms wanted to be honest and straightforward. They included that his cause of death was a heroin overdose. “We felt that if we could make one person more aware or make one parent pay a little closer attention and notice something wrong, speak up, ask about it, do something about it, that will make Raynor give the gift of life,” Lynn Bloom said. The decision drew a mixed response from members of the family, Bloom said. Some applauded the decision and felt it was brave because it went against the norm. Others were upset and felt the obituary aired “dirty laundry,” she said. She doesn’t regret the decision. The drug epidemic affects all parts of the community, regardless of race, class or socioeconomic status, and the only way to further shine a light on it is to be honest, Bloom said. Acknowledging it helps de-stigmatize it. The less stigma there is, the more likely people will seek help, she said. “My husband and I felt that at the time he passed away that his addiction did not define him,” Bloom said. “It is what killed him.” Her son “came in the world fighting” at a mere two pounds, 13 ounces in 1988, she said. He was so small, his father, Larry, was afraid to hold him. As the years went by, he grew into a big man with a heart to match, she said. He grew up on Long Island, New York, and maintained lifelong friendships with elementary school pals made there, his mother said. He was a great brother to his siblings and had a special bond with his youngest brother, Joshua, 17. The family moved to Dunmore in 2007, and Raynor Bloom followed shortly thereafter. He got a job at GoodFellas Pizza on South Main Avenue in West Scranton, first as a delivery driver and, ultimately, as a manager, Bloom said. When the store changed hands in June, and became West Side Food and Beer, the new management kept him. While there, he earned a reputation for generosity, geniality and hard work. It was not uncommon for him to work 70-plus hours a week, Bloom said of her son. His final Facebook post, on Oct. 9, mentions an 87-hour work week. When he had free time, he enjoyed playing video games and going to concerts with friends. He loved heavy metal music, especially Pantera. His taste in tunes proved a sharp juxtaposition to his kind, gentle, giving disposition, his mother said. “He was friendly and smiling and treated everyone the same,” she said. Despite the long hours, he still found time to call home and spend time with family, his mother said. Sometimes he phoned to see what was for dinner, even if he didn’t plan on stopping by, she said with a laugh. He made it to the theater with his father and brother to see the latest “Star Wars” movies. He did not display any physical changes that would denote drug use, she said. On Oct. 17, Raynor’s roommate called the Blooms to tell them their son died of an overdose at his apartment. His parents suspect fentanyl-tinged heroin was responsible. His reasons for starting to take the drugs are a mystery, his mother said. He had some health issues, including sleeping disorders, she said, and it is possible he was self-medicating. “It was something he kept secret from his friends and family,” she said. “The fact he was doing those drugs and working those kind of hours is mind-boggling.” For now, the family is trying to cope with their loss. His death hit Joshua hard and Bloom recently started attending a grief support group. She said she thinks there should be more resources for people — those dealing with addiction, those in recovery, police and first responders and grieving family and friends. “We’re losing a generation to this and I don’t think anyone is realizing that,” she said. ___ Online: http://bit.ly/2E1O0Le ___ Information from: The Times-Tribune, http://thetimes-tribune.com/ Claim: Opioid epidemic has addiction revealed in obituaries.

Answer: The toll opioid addiction took on Miranda Ferguson is evident when her mother flips through family photos.


Question: Paragraph: Michelle Obama is visiting Tanzania on the last day of President Barack Obama’s eight-day tour of Africa. She helped Laura Bush open a summit of the wives of African leaders, saying Africa was “at the hub of global development”. The summit aims to promote women’s well-being on the continent. The unusual Obama-Bush combination spotlights U.S. interest in the continent and the importance of Africa to the legacy of the president and his predecessor George W. Bush. For Obama, his three-nation tour has given him a break from a row over spy agency eavesdropping and a chance to promote U.S. commercial interests to a receptive African audience. Bush, who launched a widely praised program to combat HIV/AIDS in Africa when in office, was due to join Obama for a ceremony to remember the victims of the 1998 U.S. embassy bombing in the Tanzanian capital. An expansion of a program to detect and treat cervical and breast cancer, Pink Ribbon Red Ribbon, is due to be announced on Wednesday, organizers said. Former President Bush is due to speak at the first ladies’ summit the same day. The United Nations and non-governmental groups, including Bush’s foundation, launched Pink Ribbon Red Ribbon to provide health services to women in sub-Saharan Africa and Latin America, building on the U.S. HIV/AIDS prevention program. Claim: Michelle Obama, Laura Bush spotlight Africa women's health.

Answer: U.S. First Lady Michelle Obama and predecessor Laura Bush combined their star power to draw attention on Tuesday to efforts to improve women’s health and welfare in east Africa.


Question: Paragraph: Nguyen’s suicide has sparked a contentious legal battle headed to Massachusetts’ highest court over whether schools can be held responsible when students take their own lives. The case is being closely watched by colleges and universities, who say a decision against the Massachusetts Institute of Technology would place an unreasonable burden on untrained employees to stop suicides. “It would be groundbreaking,” said Gary Pavela, a consultant on law and policy issues in higher education and author of a book about legal questions surrounding student suicides. “It would cause alarm in higher education,” he said. The student’s family says his death was preventable and that the school had a legal duty to use reasonable care to protect him from harm. Nguyen’s professors and other MIT officials knew he was a suicide risk, but failed to get him the help he needed, an attorney for Nguyen’s family argues. Months before Nguyen’s death, a professor encouraged his colleagues to pass him or they might have “blood on their hands.” Moments before Nguyen jumped, the professor “read him the riot act” over an email Nguyen sent to another MIT official that they deemed inappropriate, court records say. “Academic freedom is not a license to needlessly and recklessly endanger students known to be at risk of death with impunity; and this court should not allow it to become one at institutions that routinely admit students — many with mental health issues — as young as their mid-teens,” attorney Jeffrey Beeler wrote in court documents. Beeler declined to comment and said Nguyen’s family didn’t want to speak to the media. MIT says the school wasn’t aware of the severity of his condition and he was treated by outside professionals and refused on-campus resources. None of the nine professionals who treated Nguyen while he was at MIT believed he was an imminent risk of killing himself, the school says. “Mr. Nguyen’s suicide was a tragedy. That does not warrant a legal conclusion that MIT or any individual associated with MIT had a legal duty to prevent it,” attorneys for the school, two professors and one dean named in the lawsuit say in court documents. MIT, which refused to answer questions about the case, said in a statement it “remains committed to the well-being of its students, offering a robust network of support resources, including comprehensive mental health services.” Nguyen’s family attorney disputes the idea that the man didn’t want help and has accused MIT of blaming the victim. No state supreme court has ever found that colleges and universities have a legal duty to prevent student suicides, MIT’s attorneys say. Courts have generally been reluctant to do so because, among other things, suicide is an impulsive act that’s difficult to predict, Pavela said. A Massachusetts trial court judge ruled in 2005 that an MIT housemaster and dean could be held responsible for the death of a woman who lit herself on fire in her dorm room. But Elizabeth Shin’s case, which was later settled for an undisclosed amount, never reached the state’s highest court. The Supreme Judicial Court will hear arguments in Nguyen’s case on Tuesday after a lower court judge tossed the lawsuit last year. A group of 18 colleges and universities — including Harvard University and Boston College — is urging the court to reject the case, saying a decision in favor of the family could have devastating consequences. Fear of liability may cause professors and others without mental health expertise to overreact to concerns, which in turn could discourage students from coming forward with their problems, the schools say. Dr. Paul Appelbaum, a psychiatry expert at Columbia University, agrees. “To the extent that you heighten every resident assistant’s sensitivity to the risk of suicidality, with the threat of liability hanging over them, they are far more likely to over predict, over intervene, see it where it’s not,” Appelbaum said. The Nguyen family attorney and their supporters — including the Massachusetts Academy of Trial Attorneys — say the schools’ concerns are baseless. Beeler, in his filing, said he merely wants the court to affirm that the duty to provide reasonable care “extends to the ivory tower as it does every other civilized corner of the Commonwealth.” Thomas Murphy, chair of the amicus committee of the Massachusetts Academy of Trial Attorneys, says a jury should get to decide whether MIT was negligent and caused Nguyen’s suicide. “Maybe the school can convince them that they didn’t cause (Nguyen’s suicide) and it was going to happen anyway,” he said. ___ Follow Alanna Durkin Richer at http://twitter.com/aedurkinricher. Read more of her work at http://bit.ly/2hIhzDb Claim: Case stirs question of school liability for student suicides.

Answer:
Han Nguyen was consumed by depression and struggling to stay afloat at one of the world’s most prestigious universities. His mental health continued to decline until one day, moments after a professor confronted him about an offensive email, the 25-year-old jumped from the top of a campus building to his death.