Morris County Sheriff James M. Gannon Hosts Visit To Hope One By Yonkers, N.Y. Police And Mental Health Advocate

Published on August 24, 2020

Morris County Sheriff James M. Gannon talks with Yonkers, N.Y. Police Captain Thomas Ward about Hope One. Morris County Sheriff James M. Gannon talks with Yonkers, N.Y. Police Captain Thomas Ward about Hope One.

Morris County Sheriff James M. Gannon gave members of the Yonkers, New York, Police Department and a Westchester County, New York, Mental Health advocate an overview of his award-winning Hope One mobile outreach program on Monday as the visitors explore ways to lessen opioid addiction in their jurisdiction.

Like other parts of the country, Yonkers, N.Y. “ the fourth most populated city in New York State “ is experiencing an opioid crisis and has concentrated areas where homeless individuals gather.

In search of innovative solutions, Yonkers Police Department Captain Thomas Ward, Yonkers Police Officer Jim McGartland and Mark Giuliano, a Westchester County Community Mental Health adult program services director, visited the Morris County Sheriff's Office Hope One team on its Monday stop outside Nourish, a soup kitchen in Morristown.

We are out in the community at least twice a week offering free Narcan training and bringing essential addiction and mental health resources and guidance to people who may be utterly without support or insight into where to turn for help, Sheriff Gannon said.

Morris County Sheriff James M. Gannon, at center holding document, hosted a visit to the Sheriff's Office Hope One program by Yonkers, N.Y. Police Officers and a Mental Health Advocate on August 24. Morris County Sheriff James M. Gannon, at center holding document, hosted a visit to the Sheriff's Office Hope One program by Yonkers, N.Y. Police Officers and a Mental Health Advocate on August 24.

Captain Ward said the Yonkers Police Department has a program called HEART, for Heroin Enforcement And Response Team, that focuses on enforcement, education and outreach, and offering individuals assistance if they have been revived from an overdose with Narcan.

But the city would like to do more, be more proactive to curb opioid addiction and offer services to individuals with mental health disorders and homelessness, Captain Ward said.

We've been going out and dealing with people with mental health issues but we don't have anything to offer them or the homeless. We were really just dealing with the heroin issue and there's so many other elements. The beauty of the Hope One program that gets me excited is the combination of its services, Captain Ward said.

As passersby stopped by the Hope One vehicle to collect brochures and receive Narcan training, Sheriff Gannon offered the Yonkers team program statistics and how Hope One was launched on April 3, 2017, through a partnership between the Morris County Sheriff's Office and the Center for Addiction Recovery, Education & Success (CARES), the Mental Health Association of Essex and Morris, Daytop-NJ, and the Morris County Department of Human Services.

Morris County Sheriff's Office Hope One team members, from left: Sheriff's Officer Chelsea Whiting, Certified Peer Recovery Specialist Kelly Labar, and Sheriff's Office Intern Shannon Breen. Morris County Sheriff's Office Hope One team members, from left: Sheriff's Officer Chelsea Whiting, Certified Peer Recovery Specialist Kelly Labar, and Sheriff's Office Intern Shannon Breen.

Multiple other cities and counties have created Hope One programs modeled after the Morris County Sheriff's Office initiative, including the city of Newark, Cape May, Atlantic, Burlington and Monmouth counties. Hudson County also has requested information about the Morris County program.

Hope One, as of Friday, had surpassed 13,000 community contacts. The team has trained 2,708 people in the use of Narcan to reverse an overdose, assisted 184 people in accessing rehab and recovery programs and another 146 people with obtaining mental health services.

At least 45 lives have been saved by people who received Narcan training by the Hope One team and subsequently used their Narcan kit to reverse an overdose.

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