OCEAN CITY – A couple is enlisting the support of legislative officials and community members to change certain aspects of federal privacy laws, and it all starts with a holiday album, entitled “Brian’s Christmas Songbook.”
Tony and Lee Ann Christ lost their son Brian on Dec. 15, 2004 to a heroin overdose. He was 22 years old.
His addiction began the year prior, when he started snorting and injecting the lethal substance, according to Lee Ann Christ, who spoke at this week’s Worcester County Warriors Against Opiate Addiction meeting.
Brian, an electrical engineering student at the University of Virginia, had his entire life ahead of him, his mother said. He had a successful side business. He had mentors. He had friends.
But it all came to an end the day she found him unresponsive in front of his computer screen.
Shortly following his death, Brian’s teachers and doctor informed the Christs of their son’s destructive behavior. But his parents claim Health Insurance Portability and Accountability Act (HIPAA) and Family Educational Rights and Privacy Act (FERPA) put in place by the federal government prevented them from helping their son.
“We hope the music is a caveat to wake people up,” his father said. “The music, we think, can stand on its own. We think our Seaside Songbirds have performed as well as anyone that ever did these Christmas carols.”
Christ, along with musicians Melissa Alesi, Lauren Glick, John Abella, Ken Celia and Dennis Crawford, started work on the CD earlier this year.
Christ said the album was released recently and is on sale for $10.
“We have an interesting mix,” Christ said. “We’ve got contemporary songs. We’ve got traditional carols. We think in and of itself, it is a nice thing to listen to.”
The storybook’s narration, voiced by Christ himself, is a conversation of the Christmas story from a father to his son and his childhood friends.
Christ said the only mention of heroin or opioids is found on the back cover, where a brief biography of his son can be found. But he said the overreaching goal of the album is to shine a light on heroin addiction and federal privacy laws.
“Although we are pulling at heartstrings to get the attention, we are doing this to affect a change,” he said.
According to Christ, music from the CD will be performed from 6-8 p.m. on Dec. 11 at Fager’s Island. From 4-6 p.m., a heroin addiction workshop will take place. Speakers will include Christ, Ocean City Councilman John Gehrig, paramedics who have witnessed addiction overdoses and state Sen. Jim Mathias. It’s at this event that Christ plans to outline proposed legislation to the senator that will allow doctors and teachers to inform parents of their children’s potential drug problem.
“I am very interested in taking a look on what they have conceived and matching that up with the baselines of HIPPA and FERPA, and talking around about it and seeing where realities are,” Mathias said. “What they are trying to do is take tragedy and learn from it so other parents can benefit from their cause.”
Christ tried previously to get legislation passed in his home state of Virginia. The legislation passed the Virginia House in 2008 but was table in a Senate committee.
“This rule requires educational institutions to merely reinstitute a policy which existed for over 150 years prior to the recent federal interventions, whereby knowledge of dangerous and illegal actions of dependent students was passed to the parents to provide an opportunity to intervene. Educational institutions will once again respect the integrity of the family and the welfare of the student regardless of some interpretations given to invasive federal laws,” Christ said. “This rule would require notification in cases where the addiction is a behavior, not a substance, e.g., anorexia or gambling. This rule would properly take much of the current subjectivity out of deciding when to notify the parents. The professors’ expanded role is a small chore given their daily contact with the students, but it is a critical input for administrators and parents who can intervene before behavior deteriorates so far that it threatens lives.”
Christ will also host two other events for his album on Dec. 18.
Johnny’s Pizza and Pub will host the Songbirds from 2-6 p.m. and Councilman Matt James will talk about his experiences as a paramedic on the frontlines of addiction. Individuals will receive all-you-can-eat pizza for $10.
Later that evening, from 7-9 p.m., the Songbirds will perform music from the album at the Ocean City Performing Arts Center. The suggested cost of the ticket is $10, and 600 complimentary seats will be set aside for kids ages 6 to 12.
Copies of the album will be available for sale at each event. A portion of the CD’s sales and money raised from the events will go toward fighting heroin addiction.
“It’s not about the $10,” Christ said. “It’s to touch people. It’s to awaken them. Too many times, things fizzle out with respect to addiction. We wanted to touch on it at a time of year with something special. I think every famous musician in America has done Christmas carols, but none of them have done a Christmas carol songbook.”
