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Q&A
Block-level interventions and outreach teams for overdose prevention
1:39:35
ยท
106 sec
Council Member Sandy Nurse inquires about DOHMH's block-level interventions and outreach team capacity for overdose prevention. Assistant Commissioner Rebecca Linn-Walton explains the department's approach and resources.
- DOHMH works with state and local partners to ensure treatment access and outreach
- Six outreach and syringe litter teams connected to 14 syringe services programs
- Collaboration with DHS to connect individuals to care
- Council Member Nurse recommends more outreach to elected officials and community boards for better transparency and understanding of these services
Sandy Nurse
1:39:35
I'm gonna ask some questions about BeHeard, but I want to keep on this track for a second.
1:39:39
So what are your interventions at the block level?
Rebecca Linn-Walton
1:39:45
At the block level we're looking, so we work with our state partners and our local city partners to make sure there's enough treatment access, there's enough slots for people to get treatment access.
1:39:57
We're also working we go out with outreach or our community providers go out with outreach teams so that they can engage someone who maybe isn't connected to any services right there on the screen.
Gale A. Brewer
1:40:08
Do know
Sandy Nurse
1:40:08
what the capacity of your outreach teams are for your network?
Rebecca Linn-Walton
1:40:13
We have this over to the sorry, the outreach and syringe litter teams, we have six who are connected to 14 different syringe services programs.
1:40:22
And so they're canvassing the entire community.
1:40:26
So it's not so much do they have enough slots.
1:40:28
It's are they going out into the community?
1:40:30
The answer is they're right there on the streets.
1:40:32
But we also work with DHS so that when they interact with someone who may also need services, it doesn't have to come through the OSL team.
1:40:40
We want to make sure that all of our partner agencies know where to come to get people connected to care.
Sandy Nurse
1:40:45
I think you should I would recommend more outreach to your elected officials and your community boards so they understand exactly how to get those outreach teams because I would argue that most folks don't see those outreach teams on the street and certainly not when we request them for a sustained period of time.
1:41:06
So I'd love to get a little more transparency on that and I think it would be great for you all to do some deeper education around what that actually looks like and what the expectations are when there is an area where we know there is a sustained level of particularly syringe use.