PO Box 360
Trenton, NJ 08625-0360

For Release:
December 10, 2014

Mary E. O'Dowd, M.P.H.
Commissioner

For Further Information Contact:
Office of Communications
(609) 984-7160

Christie Administration Continues Addiction Prevention, Treatment, Recovery Efforts During Season of Giving

PRESS ADVISORY

WHEN: 10:30 a.m. Friday, December 12

WHERE: JSAS HealthCare, Inc., 685 Neptune Boulevard, Suite 101, Neptune, 07753

WHAT: New Jersey Health Commissioner Mary E. O'Dowd, M.P.H., will announce

$100,000 in grants to JSAS HealthCare for its Opioid Overdose Prevention Project, which trains family, friends and those with addiction disorders to administer Naloxone (also called Narcan), an antidote used to reverse the effects of an opioid overdose.

In March, the Commissioner signed a waiver allowing more than 28,000 EMTS to administer Narcan. EMTs have used Narcan more than 200 times since the waiver was signed.

"Every minute counts in an emergency overdose situation so training family and friends of individuals with addiction disorders may mean the difference between life and death," said Commissioner O'Dowd. 

The Commissioner will attend a training class where individuals with addiction disorders and their family members and friends learn how to administer Narcan and perform rescue breathing. Kits containing the Narcan antidote are distributed to attendees at the training sessions along with a voucher for 30 days of free outpatient treatment. About 217 people have been trained since the program began in September. JSAS offers faith-based and community group Narcan training sessions. Funding for the Opioid Overdose Prevention Project is from the New Jersey Department of Human Services.

Commissioner O'Dowd will also meet with pregnant and post-partum women who  participate in Project C.A.R.E. (Chemical Abuse Recovery Experience), which provides obstetrical care and well child pediatric care in partnership with Jersey Shore University Medical Center in Neptune.

BACKGROUND:

JSAS HealthCare has been in existence for 41 years. It is a private, nonprofit agency which provides comprehensive outpatient substance abuse treatment. They also provide HIV counseling and testing and HIV Early Intervention and medical treatment, and case management. They serve approximately 1250 patients in Monmouth and Ocean counties each year with a variety of services including outpatient counseling, HIV counseling, testing and medical assessment, individual and group counseling sessions. Free Hepatitis A/B vaccines are offered along with help with tobacco dependency, Hepatitis C disease and nutritional deficits. JSAS HealthCare also receives a $217,500 grant from Department of Health Division of HIV, STD and TB Services to reduce HIV transmission and increase awareness of HIV status among high risk target populations identified by NJ HIV/AIDS planning group and Prevention and Education Unit.

Last Reviewed: 12/10/2014