COVINGTON, KY – With the massive increase in heroin use and the rise in overdoses hitting Northern Kentucky, the City of Covington is teaming up with Kenton County, The Northern Kentucky Office of Drug Control Policy, PDS and the Northern Kentucky Health Department to educate citizens on how to protect themselves, their friends and family, and their community.
Working together with county organizations, the City will join the campaign with door-to-door drives on Saturday, September 23, and Sunday, September 24 to distribute informational door hangers to residents throughout the West and East side of Covington. Additional dates will be scheduled for the remaining areas of Covington.
On September 23, volunteers are encouraged to meet at Covington Latin, located at 21 E 11th St, Covington, KY 41011 at 9 a.m. and, on September 24, volunteers are encouraged to meet at the Life Learning Center located at 20 W 18th St, Covington, KY 41011 at 12:30 p.m.
Mayor Joseph U. Meyer said, “We encourage Covington residents to participate in this important initiative as we continue to fight against the heroin epidemic.”
Kenton County, in collaboration with the Northern Kentucky Office of Drug Control Policy, and Boone and Campbell Counties, created a regional heroin helpline to provide quick response for people in need.
“The Northern Kentucky Helpline is a critical tool in helping those struggling with opiate and heroin addiction,” said Judge/Executive Kris Knochelmann. “Streamlining access to treatment saves lives, and bringing our community together to spread the word about the helpline is an important part of this effort.”
The helpline number is 859-415-9280, and it is staffed 24 hours a day.
St. Elizabeth Medical Center experienced 1,548 overdose emergencies in 2016, over 200 drug-related deaths, and more than 100 babies born to addicted mothers. The crisis is striking every city and neighborhood, regardless of socio-economic profile.
Community partners working with county leaders have taken the following steps so far to tackle the growing problem:
- Creating the Northern Kentucky Office of Drug Control Policy, led by Kim Moser, to coordinate how our region attacks this epidemic.
- Establishing a nationally recognized substance abuse treatment program at the Kenton County Detention Center that is currently working with 125 men and women, making it one of the largest treatment facilities in Northern Kentucky.
- Starting the Regional Heroin Helpline – 859-415-9280 – that has already been recognized as a model in the Commonwealth of Kentucky for helping residents access treatment.
- Adding Boone, Campbell and Kenton Counties to the federally-designated High Intensity Drug Trafficking Area (HIDTA), to make additional resources available to our local law enforcement agencies.
- Establishing a Quick Response Team, mixing the best qualities of multiple first responder agencies, to intervene with individuals who previously overdosed.
For more information, or to volunteer to distribute door hangers on Saturday, September 23, and/or Sunday, September 24, RSVP to Kenton County Fiscal Court’s Digital Communications Coordinator Sara Sgantas at Sara.Sgantas@KentonCounty.org or by calling 859.392.1400.