Seven Robert Wood Johnson Foundation (RWJF) Culture of Health Prize winning communities in the Northeast gathered at the UMass Center at Springfield on May 5, 2017 for their second learning/sharing session. The newly-awarded prize-winning community of Manchester, NH, joined Cambridge, Everett, Fall River and Lawrence, MA along with Bridgeport, CT, and The Bronx, NY, for the day-long session. Carrie Carroll of the University of Wisconsin Population Health Institute welcomed the group before Jose Wendel and Claude Jacobs of the Cambridge group introduced regional public health leaders and then divided participants into five repeating breakout sessions for discussions related to the current opioid crisis that each community is experiencing. Click here for a 70-minute video of the morning session. Click here for a 41-minute video of the breakouts and wrap-up discussion. Click here for a 45-minute presentation of the Manchester Safe Station Program that connects opioid users to human service providers at city fire stations. Click here for photos and video of the 2016 gathering at Yale. For more information, contact United Neighbors of Fall River Executive Director Wendy Garf-Lipp a 508-324-7900

(Top row) Fall River participants Tracy Ibbotson, Stephanie Perry, Lisa Alves, Linda Botelho, Mike Coughlin and Kerry Mello talk among themselves on first arriving while Wendy Garf-Lipp greets two representatives from the Bridgeport group. (Row two) After Lisa Alves introduces herself to representatives of the Manchester group, Carrie Carroll, Deputy Director of the Robert Wood Johnson Foundation Culture of Health Prize program at the University of Wisconsin Population Health Institute, welcomes the group. (Row three) Kathryn Power, Ed.D., Regional Administrator of Region I (New England) Substance Abuse and Mental Health Services Administration (SAMHSA), Betsy Rosenfeld, J.D., Regional Health Administrator for the Region I Office of the Assistant Secretary for Health (OASH), and Christopher Bersani, Psy.D., ABPP, Deputy Regional Administrator of the Region I Health Resources and Services Administration (HRSA) address the group. (Row four, left) Lisa Alves of the Fall River WIC Program listens as Fernando Tirado of the Center for Health Equity in The Bronx leads a breakout session about Mental Health First Aid Trainings as a City Wide Policy Issue. (Row four, center and right) Fall River Substance Abuse Grants Manager Michael Aguiar, Saint Anne's Hospital Community Benefits Manager Tracy Ibboston and Partners School Wellness Coordinator Marcia Picard listen to Chris Hickey and Chris Stawasz of Manchester, NH, as they describe their Safe Station Program for drug users. (Bottom row) Partners Executive Director David Weed and Learn2Cope Organizer Linda Botelho listen to Jared Owen of the Massachusetts Organization for Addiction Recovery (MOAR) talk about Prevention and Systems Change from the Substance User Perspective while United Neighbors of Fall River Executive Director Wendy Garf-Lipp leads a session on Suicide Prevention Cafes before the Fall River group poses for a photo.