Wareham Police Headquarters
WAREHAM – Residents facing opioid abuse issues in Wareham have a path to treatment as the town has joined Plymouth County’s Project Outreach.
The program is a collaboration between public safety agencies, health care providers and social service agencies to provide treatment options to individuals who overdose.
Home visits will be made to offer help shortly after opioid related incidents.
“We go to their houses and we offer treatment options,” said Wareham Police Chief Kevin Walsh during a recent selectmen’s meeting. “We offer advice. We offer resource information – anything to help the situation.”
Walsh said if an individual refuses treatment they will leave with no questions asked.
But if police respond to a future overdose and the victim does not accept treatment a second time, police will seek court-ordered treatment.
“Wareham has actually been trying to make this program work for the last two months,” Walsh said. “We’ve had some successes. We’ve had some things we have to work around but it’s going to be a program we are definitely going to be involved in.”
Walsh said there have been two individuals who have agreed to seek treatment during visits since the program began.
Project Outreach combines the resources available in all 26 communities in Plymouth County.
Some of the organizations involved in the program include High Point, Gosnold of Cape Cod, Spire Recovery Group, Bay State Community Services, Clean Slate, Brockton Area Multi-Services, Inc. and South Bay Community Services.
A “drop-in center,” which provides information and resources to individuals with substance abuse, is also available in Plymouth. Walsh said they also plan on starting a location in Wareham.
In 2016, there were 135 overdoses and 15 overdose deaths in Wareham. So far this year there are have been 20 overdoses in town resulting in one death.
The average age of overdose victims is 27.
In the county, Wareham is second in overdoses and is only behind Plymouth.
By BRIAN MERCHANT, CapeCod.com NewsCenter
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