The Northwest Georgia Department of Public Health is expanding a pilot program that was started in Paulding County to Chattooga and surrounding counties. The program sends volunteers door to door in communities where opioid deaths have occurred, like the one in Walker County’s Kennsington community that took the life of a Menlo woman in January of this year.
After an overdose, a pair of representatives from recovery community organizations will knock on doors near an overdose site or set up at a community gathering place like a gas station or store. The team drops off literature about harm reduction during the use of opioids, information on recovery programs and supplies like naloxone, a drug that can reverse an opioid overdose along with fentanyl test strips, which provide a way for opioid users to avoid drugs containing the powerful synthetic opioid.
Starting this month, the state is expanding the post-overdose community canvass to the entire 10-county district in Northwest Georgia that includes Chattooga and surrounding counties. Recovery community organizations are independent nonprofit groups run by leaders in the recovery community, which in Northwest Georgia is United in Recovery.
From mid-March 2022 to mid-March this year, there were 271 suspected opioid overdoses, five deaths and 213 naloxone administrations in Chattooga, Walker, Dade and Catoosa Counties.
Anyone needing help with opioid addiction or who would like to volunteer can reach United in Recovery at 706-853-0624.
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