The first mobile treatment unit for opioid addition is launched on Wednesday, Feb. 7, 2024 at 997 Brook Ave.
Photo Emily Swanson
The nonprofit Acacia Network, its affiliate Promesa Inc. and the State Office of Addiction Services and Supports (OASES) on Wednesday celebrated the opening of a brand-new Mobile Medication Unit (MMU) that will provide “substance use treatment on wheels.”
The MMU is the first mobile methadone service in the Bronx aimed at finding and treating people addicted to opioids.
“Mobile services are the way to go,” Bronx Borough President Vanessa Gibson said at Wednesday’s ribbon-cutting. “We are not a one-size-fits-all borough.”
The chrome and white truck will be stationed primarily at 997 Brook Ave. in the Days Inn parking lot from 8 a.m. to 2 p.m. Mondays-Saturdays.
This mobile clinic comes at a time when the overdose epidemic is at its “worst stage ever,” according to Dr. Chinazo Cunningham, the commissioner of OASES.
And in New York City, the problem is especially prominent. A September 2023 advisory by the Department of Health and Mental Hygiene (DOHMH) said that the overdose crisis was reaching “historic levels.” A New Yorker is lost to overdose once every three hours, according to Commissioner Dr. Ashwin Vasan.
DOHMH also reported that overdoses throughout the city increased by 12% from 2021 to 2022 and Bronxites — especially in the neighborhoods of Crotona, Tremont, Hunts Point, Mott Haven and Highbridge — had the highest overdose death rate in 2022.
But the good news, Cunningham said, is that “these deaths are preventable. We have effective treatment.”
And people can help each other, as well.
According to the Department of Health, about 60% of overdose deaths occurred not in public, but in the person’s own home or someone else’s — making it all the more critical for people to know where to find resources.
The MMU, which will provide “trauma-informed, culturally…
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