WILMINGTON, N.C. -- For the last six months, paramedics, police, nurses, therapists, and politicians have been saving people's lives thanks to the state-funded quick response team, introduced to New Hanover County this summer.
- The $500,000 pilot program funds a team of professionals who approach opioid and heroin addicts after a close call with an overdose.
- The goal is to go to them after the crisis and offer help.
- Four out of five addictions began with pain pills.
The $500,000 pilot program, spearheaded by Rep. Ted Davis, funds a team of professionals who approach opioid and heroin addicts after a close call with an overdose. The goal is to go to them after the crisis and offer help.
“This is a public health issue first and foremost, and the state legislature was very gracious in giving us that half million dollars to start this team, which has been very effective to date. But we're going to need additional monies because this epidemic is not going to go away in 2, 3, 4 years. It's been 15, 20 years in the making,” said Bill Saffo, Wilmington mayor.
Rep. Davis and Mayor Saffo are trying to see how they can make the program happen on the more permanent basis if it is a success.
Kenny House, the clinical director of Coastal Horizons, says they’re doing great so far.
"In the first six months, five months we engaged, we're able to connect with 66 overdose survivors. Fifty-three of those agreed to treatment, so we saw the benefits pretty quickly, an average of about 10 per month.”
House says Wilmington has a deep history of heroin abuse dating back 60-plus years, but four out of five addictions began with pain pills.