FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE: April 19, 2018

Contacts: Matt Birchenough, 201-916-1032, media@drugfreenj.org

Cape May County Experts and Residents Seek Solutions at Opioid Town Hall

DENNIS TWP. — A group of Cape May County residents engaged in dialogue with experts, who advocated for a diverse and coordinated response to help find solutions to the statewide opioid crisis at a Knock Out Opioid Abuse Town Hall held Thursday morning, sponsored by the Partnership for a Drug-Free New Jersey and the Horizon Foundation for New Jersey.

Nearly 100 attendees participated in the event at the Dennis Township Senior Center. There have been three overdose deaths in Cape May County in 2018, and law enforcement and emergency medical personnel have administered naloxone 28 times this year.

“There is not one community in Cape May County or New Jersey that has been unaffected by the opioid crisis,” said PDFNJ Executive Director Angelo Valente. “We are confident that our discussions today will help lead toward progress in fighting this epidemic and prevent more New Jersey families from having to endure the tragedies that too many have already faced.”

The event, which was organized in collaboration with Cape Assist, featured an expert panel that provided a comprehensive view of the crisis from the perspectives of law enforcement, the medical community, prevention, recovery and government. The panel included Assemblyman R. Bruce Land; Cape May County Prosecutor Jeffrey H. Sutherland; JoAnn McGettigan, Acute Care Management Director at Cape Regional Medical Center; Temerity Berry, the Director of Prevention Services at Cape Assist; Kathryn Gibson, Substance Use Navigator with Cape Assist; and Tonia Ahern, a family advocate with the Mental Health Association in New Jersey and Parent-To-Parent.

Panelists provided a comprehensive view of the effects of the opioid epidemic and focused on solutions to the issue, including increased prevention efforts and treatment of addiction as a disease.

A panel of Cape May County discussed the impact of the opioid epidemic in the county at Thursday’s Knock Out Opioid Abuse Town Hall sponsored by the Partnership for a Drug-Free New Jersey and the Horizon Foundation for New Jersey. From left, JoAnn McGettigan, Acute Care Management Director at Cape Regional Medical Center; Cape May County Prosecutor Jeffrey H. Sutherland; Assemblyman R. Bruce Land; Temerity Ennis-Berry, Director of Prevention Services at Cape Assist ; Tonia Ahern of Parent-To-Parent; Kathryn Gibson, Substance Use Navigator at Cape Assist. 

The town hall was the 14^th in the Knock Out Opioid Abuse Town Hall Series, which began in 2017 with the purpose of focusing on the link between prescription opioid dependency and heroin use and examining the causes and possible solutions of the opioid crisis.

“We know how important addressing this epidemic is, and that’s why we welcome the opportunity to do our part to help Knock Out Opioid Abuse in New Jersey,” said Jonathan Pearson, Executive Director of the Horizon Foundation for New Jersey.

The next town hall will be held April 24 in Hudson County. For more information on the series, visit www.knockoutopioidabuse.drugfreenj.org.   

###

Best known for its statewide anti-drug advertising campaign, the Partnership for a Drug-Free New Jersey is a private not-for-profit coalition of professionals from the communications, corporate and government communities whose collective mission is to reduce demand for illicit drugs in New Jersey through media communication.  To date, more than $100 million in broadcast time and print space has been donated to the Partnership’s New Jersey campaign, making it the largest public service advertising campaign in New Jersey’s history. Since its inception, the Partnership has garnered 166 advertising and public relations awards from national, regional and statewide media organizations.