Sheriff’s Department receives state grant for opioid fightDate: 7/6/2017
GREATER SPRINGFIELD – An $188,000 state grant will support and strengthen the fight against opioid addiction in Hampden County.
Sheriff Nick Cocchi announced this week his department has been given $188,837 out of a pool of $2.3 million from the Commonwealth.
Cocchi said, “I am pleased to receive this much needed funding which we will use to increase recovery bed space in the community as well as provide case management for these afflicted individuals. We all know the toll on citizens in our cities and towns. We are now losing five people every day due to this opioid crisis. This funding will prevent many individuals suffering from substance use from coming to jail, by diverting them into intensive treatment thus avoiding costly jail time. This will save lives and allow these individuals to get on track to being successful, productive members of our communities.”
Sheriff’s Department spokesperson Stephen O’Neil told Reminder Publications the department received the same allocation as last year.
He explained the additional services would not be offered at the jail but “out in the community via a contract with a vendor to provide treatment beds in the community at various locations for men and women.”
He added, “In most cases men are in one facility women in another. The actual bed number is flexible based upon how long a person stays, so you could have 10 people at 30 days or 30 people at 10 days, really depending on each individual's needs. So we have approximately 1,459 bed days available spread out by need.”
The grant supports the idea of diverting people in the justice system who are addicts and have committed minor crimes to treatment “if the judge and the district attorney are okay with that alternative.”
O’Neil said that one new job, a case manager, with the bed contract vendor has been created by the grant.
The number of confirmed cases of all opioid-related overdose deaths for 2016 was 1,933, O’Neil said. This figure represents a 17 percent increase over confirmed cases in 2015 with 1,651 deaths and a 42 percent increase over 2014.
Cocchi said, “I’m committed to attack this crisis head on. Diversion into treatment and recovery is the way to go. I appreciate this funding in support of our efforts here in Hampden County.”
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