OLEAN — Cattaraugus County police officials and a former heroin addict will make presentations on the local drug epidemic Wednesday at the county Board of Health meeting.
Dr. Kevin Watkins, Cattaraugus County public health director, said Friday that a former addict who has successfully gone through rehabilitation, the Salamanca Police chief, and the officer in charge of the Gowanda Police Department, have been invited to the meeting at Good Times of Olean at noon on Wednesday.
Board member David Miller, who is also principal of Gowanda Middle School, arranged for former addict Megan Irish of Gowanda to make a presentation to the board.
In addition, Salamanca Police Chief Troy Westfall and David Raiport, the officer in charge of the Gowanda Police Department will discuss a program they are participating in to get heroin and other opiate addicts help in quitting and getting rehabilitation instead of arresting them. Both Salamanca and Gowanda officials have reported an epidemic in heroin use, and both communities lost residents to opiate overdoses over the past year.
Because there are so few beds available for rehabilitation of heroin addicts, Westfall said last week that he and Raiport are participating in a new program, The Police Assisted Addiction and Recovery Initiative.
The program involves available rehabilitation beds in other states, including Florida, California and New Hampshire. If an addict asks for help in getting to a rehabilitation bed, the police have committed themselves to help.
The addict’s family is asked to buy a plane ticket, according to Westfall, and the treatment is paid for by private insurance or Medicaid.
Watkins, who until recently was not aware of the program or the efforts of Westfall and Raiport, asked them to share their story with the Board of Health, which is becoming increasingly concerned with the increase in the number of heroin overdoses in the county.
The state Health Department listed three official heroin overdose deaths in Cattaraugus County in 2015. Westfall questioned the statistics, saying he was aware of five heroin overdose deaths in Salamanca alone.
