The Northern Kentucky Heroin Impact Response Task Force (HIRT) invites the public to a community update and conversation about the response to the heroin epidemic in Northern Kentucky.
HIRT will share its latest accomplishments and outline next steps in coordinating a comprehensive response to combat heroin. The doors will open at 6 p.m. and the program begins at 6:30 p.m. on Monday, Dec. 12, at the St. Elizabeth Training and Education Center, 3861 Olympic Boulevard, in Erlanger.
The program will focus on the topic areas outlined in HIRT’s four-year plan, released in 2013:
*Reducing the supply of heroin
*Preventing drug use among youth
*Increasing treatment capacity and resources for long-term recovery; advocating for policy change
*Reducing heroin’s impact on the overall health and economic well-being of the region.
Speakers will include representatives from law enforcement, treatment providers, drug prevention specialists, hospitals and public health agencies. Members of the audience will have a chance to ask questions and interact with members of HIRT to learn where Northern Kentucky is with regards to the heroin response efforts and what initiatives are coming up for 2017.
“This is an opportunity for residents of Northern Kentucky to come together and be engaged in response efforts,” says James Thaxton, HIRT Coordinator. “Since heroin use affects all of us in the community, all of us can take action to help address this no matter who we are.”
HIRT was created in 2012 by an interagency group of concerned consumers, professionals and public officials in response to a rising number of heroin overdoses. Its mission is to ensure that the people of Northern Kentucky will have access to life-saving and life-restoring resources for addiction that will reduce its impact in our communities.
More than 30 individuals and organizations participate in HIRT currently, under the leadership of a coordinating council.
For more information on HIRT and to view the regional heroin response plan, please visit http://www.drugfreenky.org.
Northern Kentucky Health Department