BY KATHY CHANG
Staff Writer
EDISON — A program has been put in place to help those suffering with drug addiction in the instance a township resident is revived by Narcan and transported to the hospital.
The Township Council approved a resolution authorizing the township to enter a shared services agreement with Woodbridge Township for the purpose of deploying recovery specialists to opioid overdose victims within the township at a meeting on April 12.
“The program was established by Woodbridge and we are going to participate,” said Township Attorney William Northgrave. “When there is a deployment of Narcan or transport to a hospital for a person experiencing an opioid overdose, this program not only identifies that patient, but offers that patient a whole series of services to hopefully put them on a road to recovery.”
Northgrave said it has been successful so far in Woodbridge and hopefully it will be successful in Edison.
In exchange for Woodbridge providing the program for one year, the township will pay $5,000 per year as an administrative fee, paid on a quarterly basis and an additional $250 per response by a recovery specialist.
In 2016, Woodbridge Township signed agreements with four hospitals — JFK Medical Center in Edison, Robert Wood Johnson University Hospital in New Brunswick, Rahway Hospital and Raritan Bay Meridian Hospital in Perth Amboy and Old Bridge — to allow the township access to any Woodbridge resident admitted to those hospitals with an overdose or any other addiction.
Through the program, the Woodbridge has an agreement with New Brunswick-based SOBA Recovery for their services to provide the coaching.