Finance Committee - 12/06/2017 Page 5
on that split every so often, and | don’t think this report includes it. | think roughly three-quarters are opioids,
and a little less than that, maybe 20%, are alcohol, and then there’s a small proportion of other harmful drugs.
We have a group that meets to talk about Safe Stations every two weeks that includes the fire department,
AMR, a bunch of people from Harbor Homes, Revive Recovery, and a bunch of other hospitals. There is a
smaller group of people who are now going to start meeting regarding some of the people who have come
back, because there is a small number of people who come back repeatedly, 3, 4, 5, 6 visits. Some of them
tend to be involved with alcohol as opposed to opioids. Alcohol is actually, at least in what they tell me, in some
ways a more difficult dependence to work with because of the way alcohol affects someone when they have
been drinking quite a bit and they become less willing to seek recovery once they sober up a little bit. But
anyway, we’re trying to get a group that’s trying to work on the problem cases so that a treatment plan can be
developed for them to hopefully steer them into a better set of choices.
Alderman O’Brien
| attended the Budget hearing last night, and | would like to say that | was very impressed with the three
representatives of this group that came. The way they explained it last night, this is another piece in the puzzle
to our goal to get these people sober. This is like a life coach that will come out and do outreach. We can take
care of the medical needs but the way one of the gentlemen explained it, what about the other needs of
searching for an apartment or learning how to take the transit system, or learning the different things that you
would need in your recovery to be a successful citizen again. We don’t have that right now. We seemed to
take care of the initial, try to get them sober and open up the door for them, but this seems like an important
piece of the puzzle that’s got to come in and stop the recidivism that we might be seeing in some of these
people today. | would like to say, and | hope you don’t mind me speaking for it, again, | was very impressed
with their presentation. Again, it’s a very important piece in the puzzle. Maybe in the future we can look at
granting, from what was presented last night. Once we open the door to get this one position going, maybe in
the future if we decide we need another type of coaching type of situation to take care of the needs. Our
citizens at home might ask, “Well, is this really our responsibility?” | think it is. Many of these people are good
citizens; they need something, for whatever reason they got into their particular quagmire. But this piece of the
puzzle will get them back on the right track, which we all want to see — someone to have a nice, successful life.
| support this. | think this is a great idea.
Mayor Donchess
There was quite a bit of information presented last night. One of the things is that for someone who has sought
recovery and maybe gone through an inpatient program (30 days or 28 days), they’re beginning on the process
of recovery but their brain, which has been altered by the addiction and use of something like Fentanyl or
heroin, has not recovered at all; certainly not completely resumed normal brain activity. That takes a year to
two years. So someone coming off a 30-day program could still have trouble sorting through normal life
decisions; where do | go, how do | stay away from the people who are dealing drugs; where do | live; how do |
get the bus system; how do | find a job; where do | go to get a car loan; things like this. Not only anecdotal, but
there is research showing that someone to help a person through these normal life decisions, as well as kind of
serving as someone that can be consulted regarding the necessity to stay sober has a significant impact, and
increases the likelihood of success by a considerable amount.
Alderman Wilshire
| am going to support this. | think we need 10-15 of these positions here in the city with the increase we’ve
seen in the opioid crisis here. | believe in the peer-to-peer recovery model; | think it’s helpful. | think the three
people that were here last night were great. Who can tell someone better than someone who has been
through it themselves? Hey, this is what | did, this is what worked, let me help you get there.
The other thing, when you talk about should the city be funding this, what | believe, as a nonprofit manager for
my whole career, if the city buys in to a program like this, it leverages other funding sources, other grants,
other opportunities. So the city is not really in the recovery business, but the city is a partner in making that
