STATEN ISLAND, N.Y.— Representatives from the Staten Island District Attorney’s Office, NYPD, and community organizations gathered on Thursday to recognize National Overdose Awareness Day.
National Overdose Awareness Day was established in 2001 to recognize and bring awareness to those who are at risk of overdose across America.
Inside of the DA’s office, nestled in between posters covered in opioid crisis statistics, Tom Ridges, the executive assistant district attorney for the investigation bureau at the DA’s office, led a poignant discussion on the devastating affects illicit drugs have had on Staten Island in recent years.
Staten Islanders must embrace drug treatment, education, and recovery programs if they hope to see the end of a deadly drug epidemic that kills a borough resident almost every day.
Tom Ridges, executive assistant district attorney for investigations, NYPD Patrol Borough Staten Island Chief Joseph Gulotta, Jamie Young, senior peer mentor for Next Step Resource and Recovery Center, Allison Ameneiros, clinical director for Camelot Counseling, Troy Schafer, clinical director for Camelot Counseling, and Dayna Silvio, chaplain for Camelot Counseling, gather for National Drug Overdose Day. (Staten Island Advance/Shaina McLawrence)Shaina McLawrence
That’s the message the borough’s treatment community strove to get across during the gathering.
For those in the throws of addiction, awareness is not necessary, said Ridges. To the family members of those who have or lost loved ones to addiction, awareness is not necessary, because they live the reality day in and day out, he said.
“The road to recovery is not an easy journey, but it’s not impossible,” said Ridges. “We know and we understand and we accept that failure is, unfortunately, a part of recovery. For some, that failure is not just a relapse, but death.”
Attendees heard from NYPD Patrol Borough Staten Island Chief Joseph Gulotta, Jamie Young, a senior peer mentor for Next Step…
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