Melrose Substance Abuse Prevention Coalition: Working to Prevent Heroin and Opioid Overdoses… how the community can get involved.

There has been a great deal of media attention over the last few weeks regarding deaths and overdoses due to heroin and other opioid use.  Massachusetts alone has seen over 185 deaths due to overdose since September 2013, yet shockingly these figures do not include the state’s largest cities of Boston, Worcester and Springfield.  In Middlesex County, there have been a reported 30 opioid overdose deaths in the same time period.  It is extremely important to continue the conversation and discuss what is being done locally to address opioid addiction and plan strategies to prevent future overdoses.

The Melrose Substance Abuse Prevention Coalition would like to remind residents that Melrose is one of 13 grant recipients participating in an initiative to reduce opioid abuse, deaths and hospitalizations through a variety of grass-roots measures.  The communities of Melrose, Medford, Malden, Stoneham, Wakefield, and Reading applied as a group and were awarded $100,000 per year for three years, with the possibility of extending the grant to seven years. Medford is the lead community.   

The Coalition is in the process of completing a comprehensive community assessment to re-evaluate the opioid issues here in our own city through a series of key informant interviews and focus groups as well as by collecting the most relevant, up-to-date data.  We would like you to get involved!  We have spoken to a variety of people with direct knowledge of the problem:  active heroin /opioid users; family members of users; people in recovery from opioid addiction; Melrose Ambulance paramedics; staff in various departments at Melrose Wakefield Hospital; substance abuse treatment providers; members of the police and fire departments; probation officers; pharmacists; funeral directors; and business owners. 

The Coalition would like to encourage residents to participate in this assessment and to make suggestions for specific people to be interviewed.  Once the assessment is complete, strategies will be selected based on the information, feedback and suggestions collected in these interviews and focus groups. 

“This grant will address a problem that is unfortunately still with us,” said Mayor Rob Dolan. “It is a boots-on-the-ground approach to helping those users who want to be helped and preventing deaths and permanent injuries from overdoses. It attacks the problem on several fronts and provides our health department, and those of surrounding communities, with strategies that have proven to be effective.”

The grant has three goals:

·         Reduce the number of overdoses

·         Improve the management of overdoses when they do occur

·         Reduce the amount of misused, abused, and diverted prescription opioids

To reach these goals, the communities will use strategies such as:

·         Provide free educational materials on overdose prevention to the public, focusing on users and their families as well as treatment providers

·         Increase community-based prevention programs using scientifically proven strategies to reduce risk factors

·         Give active users increased access to evidence-based treatment services

·         Provide substance abuse treatment providers with information about overdose prevention that they can integrate into their work with clients

·         Maintain and expand the state’s pilot program that provides the anti-overdose drug nasal Narcan to friends and family of opioid users

·         Implement and expand emergency department intervention and referral to treatment services.

In early April, the Coalition will be publishing a Resource and Treatment Guide to help users and their families find the most appropriate help.  This guide will be available at the Melrose Health Department, Melrose Wakefield Hospital, Melrose Police Station, and various other locations throughout the city.  Planning is also underway to start a Learn To Cope group in Melrose.  This well-known model, started in 2004 by a South Shore mother whose son was a heroin user, is a support group for parents and family members dealing with a loved one’s addiction to heroin, opioids, or other drugs.  To kick-off this new group and to promote awareness, a Learn To Cope 5K Run is scheduled for June 29th at Pine Banks Park.  Please watch for more details coming soon! For more information and for a list of current meeting locations, visit www.learn2cope.org

Also the Coalition will again be organizing training on overdose signs, symptoms and prevention, as well as how to administer and obtain nasal Narcan.  If you would like to be trained or have a group that could benefit from such training, please contact us.

The Coalition will disseminate the results from the assessment and information on the selected strategies to the community within the next several weeks.

For more information, to find out how to get involved, or for help finding resources for you or a loved one, please contact Jennifer Kelly, Coordinator of the Melrose Substance Abuse Prevention Coalition at 781-979-4128 or jkelly@cityofmelrose.org