First Lady Mary Pat Christie Lauds Efforts of Community in Crisis Task Force

TRENTON — Addressing the issue of opiate addiction, First Lady Mary Pat Christie commended the Community in Crisis Task Force and their multifaceted efforts to raise awareness of substance use disorders during remarks at the Bernards Inn on April 21. Mrs. Christie spoke to the organization two years ago and heard from parents mourning the loss of their children and loved ones to opiate abuse and applauded the Task Force’s goals in formulating a plan to combat the epidemic locally.
“It’s very exciting to see how far Community in Crisis has come in two short years and the great work it has accomplished in raising awareness of drug addiction,” said Mrs. Christie. “Over the last six years, the Governor and I have put a strong emphasis on changing the conversation on drug addiction and we are proud to support organizations like this with their mission and work.”
During her remarks, Mrs. Christie said confronting the issue of addiction is a public and private partnership, which involves leadership at the State level as well as the local level with organizations like Community in Crisis.
Mrs. Christie mentioned some of the administration’s inroads, including the significant expansion of the Narcan program to include training of family and friends of addicts. Since April 2014, the opiate antidote has been deployed nearly 11,000 times by law enforcement and EMTs throughout New Jersey.
She also shared reflections from her visits to other states this past fall and winter. In January, Mrs. Christie visited members of Hope on Haven Hill, in New Hampshire, a prenatal residential facility for women on the road to recovery from substance abuse. After the event, Mrs. Christie was able set up a Garden State visit between one of her New Jersey Heroes, Peg Wright from the Center for Great Expectations in Somerset and Hope on Haven Hill staff so they could gain greater insight on how to expand their facility and help more women in need in New Hampshire.
“These experiences have allowed me to see the many faces and victims of addiction and know that this disease does not target one race or class of people, but it can happen to anyone, living anywhere. I saw firsthand how this epidemic is not something unique to New Jersey, but is a problem in almost every State across the country,” added Mrs. Christie.
Spearheaded by the Somerset Hills YMCA, Community in Crisis is a coalition of community agencies, organizations, schools, churches and concerned citizens organized to address the heroin/opiate crisis, reducing the stigma of addiction and preventing overdose deaths. The coalition is comprised of seven working groups that focus on mental health and addiction support, law enforcement/EMT, parental and school involvement, public policy support and community education, physician outreach, community engagement and fund raising.
For more information regarding Community in Crisis, visit http://www.somersetcountyymca.org/cic/community-in-crisis.