The ACR Health and Upstate Family Health Center is among the organizations that play important roles in the Oneida County Opioid Task Force, a coalition focused on eradicating the opioid epidemic and addressing substance use in the county.

The Oneida County executive said one of their most helpful resources is overdose mapping.

“Before that, it was by word-of-mouth, or by different things, or you saw an overdose and you went there. OD mapping puts us clearly in the neighborhoods we need to address,” Oneida County Executive Anthony Picente said.

Roberto Gonzalez from ACR Health and Rich Williams from Upstate Family Health Center recently prepared to bring their services out together, combining clinical and harm-reduction help.

“Sons, daughters, moms, dads, it doesn’t discriminate. Race, creed or color, you can succumb to an addiction,” Upstate Family Health Center Director of Nursing Rich Williams said.

Oneida County has had more than 60 reported overdoses this year. As of mid-March, seven overdoses were fatal.

“We will no longer wait for people to come to us in their moments of crises or desperations. We will come to them,” ACR Health Director of Harm Reduction Services Roberto Gonzalez said.

Fast-forward a few weeks, and they were helping the community at a mobile site in Rome. Visitors can meet virtually with a health care provider.

“Hopefully, get them some medication to assist with their addiction, get them on the road to recovery,” Williams said.

Visitors can also get one-on-one harm reduction intervention and counseling, have access to an insurance navigator and pick up items such as fentanyl test strips, hygiene products or Narcan kits.

Staff and volunteers are passionate about the cause. Michael Woods of ACR Health helped pick up dirty syringes.

“People are gonna use regardless. But if they use safely, we can prevent overdoses and deaths, and that’s what ACR is about. And I stand firmly with that,” Woods said. “Anything you need, we won’t judge, and if you want to come down, we can help out. If we don’t have it there, we will find it and we will get it, and that’s the thing about ACR. We’re gonna go above and beyond and make sure the client gets what they need.”

Gonzalez said the street outreaches yield good results, and more are planned. This effort is funded through a grant, and there are collective hopes it will continue.

“If people see us out here, they are more apt to build that trust with us versus not seeing us out here and just being told that an agency, ACR, somewhere in a building can help them,” Gonzalez said.