Stuck in VT- Opioid Recovery Efforts

Windham County had the highest number of opioid-related deaths in the state last year: 24 Vermonters died. That's a huge increase from 2013 when three people died there. In 2018, the Brattleboro Police Department responded to 102 overdoses, 11 were fatal. A new initiative called Project CARE (Community Approach to Recovery and Engagement) sends teams of recovery coaches and police officers to the streets for weekly outreach sessions. We joined a group that included Lt. Adam Petlock of the Brattleboro Police Department and Ella Thorne-Thomsen, a recovery coach from Turning Point of Windham County, walking the streets and talking to people suffering from substance use about recovery resources.