After a Narcan reversal, the Lehigh County Drug and Alcohol administrator will be notified through the Blue Guardian application. The individual’s name, home address and local police department (the department with jurisdiction where the individual resides) will be forwarded to the certified recovery specialist at Treatment Trends (a local substance use disorder treatment provider).

The CRS will reach out to the designated representative of that police department and schedule the home visit at a mutually acceptable time. The goal is this contact will be scheduled within 48 to 72 hours after the reversal event. At the appointed time, the CRS will meet the designated police officer and together go to the individual’s home.

There are multiple goals for this home visit:

•Re-engage the individual in accessing treatment;

•Offer support services to the family/other household members; and

•Demonstrate the police are also showing their support to get the individual into treatment and are offering to provide linkages for people to get help.

The CRS has the experience to hopefully connect with the individual and/or family members and will seek to engage them in the need for treatment. Literature will be provided to the individual and/or family including resources for accessing treatment, free family intervention counseling and free family codependency counseling.

If the individual is accepting of the assistance to access treatment, the CRS will contact the Center of Excellence. The CoE is an initiative funded by the Governor’s office and the Pennsylvania Department of Human Services. The CoE’s goal is to link the individual into treatment and provide assistance with medication-assisted treatment, mental health and physical health needs and a variety of other programs.

This home intervention is designed to be brief (lasting no more than 15 minutes). If a longer period of time is needed to work with the family, it will be handed off to the CoE.

Naloxone, Blue Guardian, hospital-based supports and community base outreach are all tools designed to educate, transform societal stereotypes and link individuals/families to the treatment support services needed. No one program is going to change the course of this epidemic; however, by working with multiple partners on multiple fronts – Lehigh County is making a difference.