Jan 26, 2018 3 min read

WAYNESBURG – Greene County is expanding its opioid task force and inviting community members to the group that will mirror Washington County’s coalition to fight the drug epidemic.

The Greene County commissioners approved a list Thursday that includes invitations for 42 people interested in participating in the task force by bringing together county officials, police departments, drug intervention workers, medical specialists and other community leaders.

The task force formed in November 2016 with mostly government workers and drug rehabilitation professionals, county Human Services Administrator Karen Bennett said, but its members decided late last year to involve more community groups in the process. A partnership with the University of Pittsburgh’s Overdose Prevention Research Program, which is coordinating with other agencies across the state to combat the opioid crisis, showed it was more beneficial to convert the task force into a community-based coalition rather than rely only on professionals.

“We’re rolling it out publicly and involving more stakeholders,” Bennett said. “Now, we’re making it more community-based. It’s trying to bring everyone together under one strategic plan.”

She said the expanded task force is “regrouping” and will break into subcommittees that can examine a wide range of issues involving the drug epidemic.

“Pitt felt that the practices used in other counties involving communities members were beneficial and that we should work on broadening our scope,” Bennett said.

Jeff Marshall, the county’s chief clerk, said the task force is being modeled off of Washington Opioid Overdose Coalition and will bring in various organizations and government agencies to work together to solve the drug problems. Earlier this month, the Washington task force received the Red Ribbon Award from the Drug Enforcement Administration for reducing drug overdose deaths in that county last year.

“Just something to keep people on the same page,” Marshall said.

The list of invitees includes the county commissions, police chiefs, county drug treatment workers, court staff, medical professionals, religious leaders and several Waynesburg University staff members. Marshall called the list a “small subset” of people who have expressed interest in the group since its inception late last year.

“We’re hoping to lessen the (opioid) impact and bring the groups together since people are working together toward the same goal,” Marshall said.

The task force hopes to meet soon with all of the invitees and then revisit a strategic plan the original group had already crafted. Later this year, committees will break off to begin implementing the plan, he said.

Those plans are still being formulated, but county Commissioner Blair Zimmerman thinks it’s a step in the right direction to solve the drug overdose epidemic that took 19 lives in Greene County in 2016. Statistics are not yet available on the number of drug overdose deaths in the county last year.

“Personally, I hope something can come out of this. One person at a time, one family at a time,” Zimmerman said. “There’s no quick fix, but I’m hoping with this group and Pitt … that we can come up with some solutions to save a few people.”

He said the time is right to work with anyone interested in trying to solve the problem.

“We’re not waiting. We have to do something now. We have to be proactive.”