New Jersey Attorney General Gurbir S. Grewal visits Morris County Sheriff's Office Hope One Vehicle In Dover
Published on May 02, 2019
New Jersey State Attorney General Gurbir S. Grewal, who has made combatting the opioid epidemic a priority of his administration, climbed aboard the Morris County Sheriff's Office Hope One vehicle during its stop in Dover on Thursday, May 2.
From left, state Attorney General Gurbir S. Grewal, Dover Mayor James Dodd, Morris County Prosecutor Fredric M. Knapp and Morris County Sheriff James M. Gannon during the Attorney General's visit May 2 to Hope One, the Sheriff's Office's mobile resource and recovery vehicle.
The Attorney General, who shares Morris County Sheriff James M. Gannon's commitment to assisting individuals with substance use disorders, was present for the 260th stop that Hope One has made in Morris County since it launched on April 3, 2017.
I love this, Attorney General Grewal told Sheriff Gannon.
Hope One, a mobile substance use recovery and resource program that brings critical addiction and mental health services into high-risk areas, is Sheriff Gannon's signature program that is being replicated around the state, including in Newark, Atlantic City and Cape May and Monmouth counties.
Morris County Sheriff's Office Corporal Erica Valvano, who coordinates the Office's Hope One program, gives state Attorney General Gurbir S. Grewal a tour of the vehicle that provides Narcan training, recovery, rehabilitation and mental health resources to people in high-risk areas of Morris County.
You've got it all covered in here, the Attorney General said as he noted the free Narcan training available on Hope One, the mental health, social service and certified peer recovery specialists that staff the repurposed SWAT vehicle, and the socks, gloves and toiletries that are dispensed to Hope One visitors.
Attorney General Grewal visited Hope One during its five-hour stop outside Trinity Lutheran Church, which runs a well-attended community soup kitchen known as Faith Kitchen.
The Attorney General said he was aware Hope One is the model for similar programs in other counties and that his visit arose from his interest in which programs work and how law enforcement can assist people with recovery.
The common theme is we want to be proactive. We want to be out there. We want people to be able to interact with law enforcement and understand that we just want to help them. We all just want to break that cycle, the Attorney General said.
I wonder where we'd be without it? Sheriff Gannon said of Hope One and other recovery programs, as he discussed Hope One's metrics with Attorney General Grewal. We'd be in a bad way I think, with addiction. There's a direct correlation between crime and addiction.
As of Thursday, Hope One has had contact with 6,643 people and trained 1,714 people in the administration of Narcan. Thirty-three lives have been documented as being saved through Narcan administered by a person trained aboard Hope One.
Morris County Sheriff James M. Gannon chats aboard Hope One in Dover with state Attorney General Gurbir S. Grewal on May 2, 2019.
The Hope One team “ Morris County Sheriff's Office Corporal Erica Valvano, Navigating Hope Care Navigator Ashley Reed, Peer Recovery Specialist Caroline Bailey and Madine Despeine, Director of Self-Help, Advocacy and Education for the Mental Health Association of Essex and Morris “ met with Attorney General Grewal.
Numerous stakeholders in the Hope One program also were present to greet the Attorney General, including Morris County Sheriff's Office Detective Lt. Denise Thornton; Jim Curtin, executive director of Daytop New Jersey; John Sette, chairman of Daytop's Board of Directors; and Joann Bjornson, Executive Director of Family Promise of Morris County.
Morris County Prosecutor Fredric M. Knapp, Dover Mayor James Dodd, Dover Police Chief Anthony Smith, and Dover Deputy Police Chief Justin Gabrys also were present to meet the Attorney General.
New Jersey Attorney General Gurbir S. Grewal talks with Jim Curtin, President and Chief Executive Office of Daytop New Jersey, during a visit by Hope One to Dover on May 2, 2019
Attorney General Grewal spoke at length with Sheriff Gannon about the mosaic of at least 12 services that his office, Morris County government, and non-profit providers offer to people with life-threatening opioid and heroin addictions.
The programs include Hope One, the Hope Wing at the Morris County Correctional Facility, Police Assisted Addiction & Recovery Initiative (PAARI) and Narcan 2.0, a program under which peer recovery specialists meet with people at hospitals after they've been revived by Narcan from an overdose.
The Attorney General gave Hope One high marks: I set a limited number of priorities when I came in and this hits all of them. You guys are amazing. I love it, he said.