About 75 people from across
various sectors gathered at the Fort
Taber Community Center on March 10, 2016 to formulate a response to
the opioid abuse problem across the South Coast. Organized by New
Bedford Public Health Director Brenda Weis, the summit brought
representatives of families, law enforcement, the courts, schools, the
clergy and a broad spectrum of treatment providers for the four-hour
forum. "We're here today for a regional summit to talk about the
opioid crisis in our region and what solutions we can come up with as a
region to prevent the crisis," stated Dr. Weis. Opening speakers
included New Bedford Mayor
Jon Mitchell, Congressman William
Keating, Representative
Robert Koczera, and UMass-Dartmouth
Acting Chancellor Gerry Kavanaugh. Fall River, which was one of a dozen
communities represented at the forum, has seen a steady
rise in overdose deaths over the past several years, with numbers
moving from 16 in 2013 to 44 in 2014 and 36 in 2015. Click
here for a ten-minute 
video of the forum.. Click
here for the Standard-Times article and here
for a recent forum on the topic organized in Fall River by State
Representative Carole Fiola. For more information, contact Dr. Weis at
508-991-6199. |
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(Top row, left)
William Burns of Southcoast Health
and Hugh
Dunn of the SouthCoast
Development Partnership chat with UMass-Dartmouth
Acting Chancellor Gerry Kavanaugh during a break. (Top row, center)
Elizabeth Leatham of New Bedford
Allied for Health and Wellness, center, makes a point during a group
discussion as Kerry Mello of Southcoast Health
leads another group. (Middle row) New
Bedford Public Health Director Brenda Weis and Senior Substance
Abuse Program Manager Paul Dhuly comment on the event during a ten-minute
video interview. (Bottom row) Luz Ortega, left, of the New Bedford
Health Department talks with Dr. Weis as Marybeth
Shoening records information from Fall River School Nurse Karen
Long, New Bedford School Nurse Karen Regan, and Administrative Director
of Community Health Benefits for Saint
Anne's Hospital Tracy Ibbotson. |
