Officers from 13 Communities Get Narcan Training
(OCCMHA, April 17, 2016)
Pontiac, MI – Approximately 30 police officers from 13 Oakland County communities attended a free training to become Naloxone trainers during an event hosted by Oakland County Community Mental Health Authority (OCCMHA) on Friday, April 15, 2016 at the Resource and Crisis Center. Naloxone, also known as Narcan, is a medication used to reverse the effects of opioids and heroin, especially during an overdose.
Communities represented at the training include Auburn Hills, Beverly Hills, Bloomfield Twp., Clawson, Ferndale, Madison Heights, Lake Angelus, Lake Orion, Northville, Pleasant Ridge, Royal Oak, South Lyon, and West Bloomfield. In addition to being trained to use the Naloxone nasal spray, each officer was allowed to request free Naloxone kits for his/her department.
Nationally recognized Naloxone Trainer, Lieutenant Detective, Patrick Glynn, from Quincy, Massachusetts and National Substance Abuse and Mental Health Services Administration (SAMHSA) and LERN  (Law Enforcement Responds with Naloxone) Consultant/Trainer, Pamela Lynch, from Traverse City were the lead instructors.
“We were thrilled to welcome Lieutenant Glynn and Pam Lynch to Oakland County for the extraordinary chance to train local law enforcement on saving lives from opioid and heroin overdoses,” said OCCMHA Administrator of Substance Use Disorder Prevention and Treatment Services, Christina Nicholas. “Our goal is to equip officers with the necessary tools to help people during a crisis by first administering Naloxone and then connecting them to valuable community resources that promote recovery.”
Glynn is a 31-year veteran of the Quincy Police Department and the Commander of the Special Investigations and Narcotics Unit. He has been training police officers for the past 20 years and acts as a current adjunct faculty member for Eastern Nazarene College. Glynn has also won numerous awards for his work, including the 2013 President’s “Advocate for Action Award.”
“We are not going to arrest our way out of this epidemic,” Glynn told Oakland County officers. “We do not pick those we protect and serve.”
Lynch helped implement the first overdose prevention program in the United States in 1999, while employed by Chicago Recovery Alliance, and has more than 20 years experience in harm reduction programming, and the treatment of substance use disorders. She has provided training throughout the contiguous U.S., Puerto Rico, Alaska, and Western Europe.
OCCMHA partnered with the Oakland County Sherriff’s Office late last year, providing approximately 150 Naloxone nasal spray kits – one year’s supply – to deputies. The LERN program is an extension of this effort.
“The successful partnership we established with the Sheriff’s Office provided the foundation for us to build upon as we continue to identify solutions to the opioid and heroin epidemic plaguing our nation,” adds Nicholas.
The LERN program also offers a basic understanding of addiction neurobiology, the impact of over-prescribed medication on substance misuse, and how stigma and misinformation about the disease of addiction are barriers to treatment and prevention.
More information about LERN and the Naloxone kits is available online at www.occmha.org under the substance use tab.
About OCCMHA
Oakland County Community Mental Health Authority is the public mental health system responsible for identifying, influencing, and delivering services and supports to approximately 25,000 Oakland County residents, including individuals with intellectual/developmental disabilities, adults with mental illness, children with serious emotional disturbance, and persons with substance use disorders. Most of these individuals have Medicaid.
OCCMHA’s current network of service providers include: Common Ground, Community Housing Network, Community Living Services, Community Network Services, Easter Seals Michigan, Macomb-Oakland Regional Center, Oakland Family Services, Inc., and Training and Treatment Innovations. A complete list of substance use service providers is available on OCCMHA’s website. For more information about OCCMHA call (800) 341-2003 or visit www.occmha.org.