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Q&A
Addressing drug use in parks and partnerships with overdose prevention centers
4:17:05
·
159 sec
Council Member Linda Lee inquires about the Parks Department's efforts to address drug use in parks, including needle disposal boxes and partnerships with overdose prevention centers (OPCs). Commissioner Sue Donoghue and Matt Drury explain their current initiatives and partnerships.
- The department has needle disposal kiosks in several parks, primarily in The Bronx
- They work closely with OPCs to maintain kiosks and clean up needles
- The department is open to discussing the placement of additional kiosks in other areas
- Opioid settlement funds are routed through the Department of Health and Mental Hygiene, not directly to Parks
- Council Member Lee expresses interest in advocating for more funding for Parks-OPC partnerships
Linda Lee
4:17:05
Nice.
4:17:07
And then my last question is just sort of shifting gears a little bit because in my capacity as chair of the Mental Health Disabilities Addictions Committee, there was a hearing we had which was interesting that talks about a lot of the high needle exchange drug use areas which included some of the parks and I didn't realize that there's actually a lot of the boxes that you have in the parks department to be able to allow for safe disposal of the needles and just wanted to get a sense of how we could get more of those in certain zip code or certain park areas that need it And then also just if you could speak to your working relationship with some of the OPCs because I know there's a lot of nonprofits that are working in the drug overdose prevention world that are doing amazing work in the community and have been working with PD and also hopefully with parks.
4:17:58
And so just wanted to get a sense of how we can get more of those boxes, what the partnership looks like with the nonprofit, and then also if you all are receiving any of the opioid settlement funds to help with that because we're trying to make sure that that money goes to the areas that need it the most.
4:19:17
would love to advocate to give you guys more funding in a partnership setting if you guys worked with the OPCs on that, because I think between you and the OPCs, everyone's really trying to do great work in the community up there, so
4:19:29
I would love to push for that.
4:19:30
And finally, I just wanted to say thank you, Commissioner.
4:19:33
You will be very much missed, and thank you so much for your partnership, and it's been wonderful working with you and your team.
4:19:39
Well, hopefully your team's not going anywhere.
4:19:43
Thank you so much.
Sue Donoghue
4:18:16
Thank you councilmember for the question and we are painfully aware of the incidence of drug use and very focused on how we can address it in parks.
4:18:28
We do have a number of kiosks.
4:18:31
They have been primarily located at a number of parks in The Bronx, But we are open to discussion if there are areas that you'd like us to look at.
4:18:40
That's something that we can do.
4:18:42
We work very closely with the OPCs and have a very close partnership with them.
4:18:48
In the kiosks that we have, especially in The Bronx, it's a joint effort.
4:18:53
They will help to empty the needles in those kiosks.
4:18:56
They will help to pick up needles on the ground.
4:18:59
So it's very, very close partnership with the OPCs.
4:19:02
In terms of the opioid settlement money, I'm not really sure about that.
4:19:29
Absolutely.
Matt Drury
4:19:07
My recollection is that it's routed through DOHMH, so it is conceivable that in a trickle down kind of way that some of it has impacted these, but I think we'd have to get clarity from the UHNH and how that has been I