After a community is affected by an opioid overdose, an expanded program from Georgia’s Department of Public Health will send recovery and harm reduction advocates door-knocking in the neighborhood nearby.
Along with some community members, public health officials are feeling discouraged by the high number of opioid overdoses, according to Rewa Pressley, the department’s Northwest District emergency preparedness coordinator. She oversees the district’s opioid program.
“For us in Northwest Georgia, this is what we thought would be a great utilization of funds — to be a boots-on-the-ground initiative and take help and hope right to people’s doors, literally,” Pressley said by phone.
Called a post-overdose response team, it began as a pilot program in Paulding County last year, she said.
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, she said.