AMHERST — As part of an initiative to combat opioid addiction across the county, the Amherst Police Department is joining a pilot program led by Hampshire HOPE to form a Drug Addiction Response Team (DART) within its ranks.
Officers Justin Satkowski, Molly Farber and Matthew Ziomek will serve on the Amherst Police’s DART program helping people at risk of opioid overdose and their families. They will provide harm reduction tools, connect people with community resources, conduct follow-up visits and provide long-term support to those in recovery after an overdose.
With the help of a four-year, $1.7 million federal grant awarded to the city of Northampton in September, Hampshire HOPE is working to establish these specialized overdose response teams in every municipality in Hampshire County.
Northampton, Hadley, Easthampton, Southampton, Amherst College, Belchertown and Ware already have their own versions of the program, and more are on the way, according to Cherry Sullivan, the program coordinator for Hampshire HOPE.
“We started adding in new pilot communities, and we call them pilot because we’re expanding the breadth of the program,” Sullivan said. “Amherst is a new one of our pilot sites.”
The Amherst Police department received $5,000 this year from the grant, which came from the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services’ Substance Abuse and Mental Health Services Administration. As part of the grant, Amherst will continue to receive Naloxone, an overdose reversal drug, through Hampshire HOPE.
“I think it’s been great because they have been at the table since the beginning of Hampshire HOPE and a driving force in developing this program,” Sullivan said of the Amherst department. “Every town is different, although we have a general model for DART, each police department is really taking it upon themselves to adapt to the needs of the local community.”
The program follows a “harm reduction philosophy,” Sullivan said, and does not treat overdose victims as criminals, but rather people in need of help. Within 48 hours of an overdose patient’s release from the hospital, officers will follow up with them to offer support and resources.
Satkowski, Farber and Ziomek also serve on the Amherst Police’s Crisis Intervention Team, a program meant to improve officers’ interactions with individuals with mental illnesses or severe emotional distress.
They will be working with Caren Sandler, a recovery coach from the Northampton Recovery Center. Recovery coaches partner with DART teams to provide continuous support to overdose victims, and have been implemented in other participating communities like Belchertown as well.
Sarah Robertson can be reached at srobertson@gazettenet.com.