The opioid crisis shook the nation, but it’s a crisis that exists in Nassau County’s own backyard. Local leaders are looking to see what can be done to combat the effects and prevent future deaths, a task that some say will get harder as time passes.
“I’m watching an entire generation of Long Islanders die deaths that are entirely preventable,” Family and Children’s Association President Jeffrey Reynolds said.
The Family and Children’s Association is a Garden City-based nonprofit that provide a variety of services for at-risk individuals. One area where their services aid is addressing substance use disorders.
“While we’re doing some good stuff, I feel like we’re only scratching the surface of what should and could be done if we’re truly serious about preventing fatalities and solving a crisis,” Reynolds said.
He said there are four steps to addressing substance use disorder: prevention efforts, harm reduction, access to treatment, and recovery support.
Education typically starts with children, Reynolds said, but efforts can be expanded in this area in school and community-based settings.
Reynolds said they work with some school districts but that every district should be involved in the education and prevention efforts.
Harm reduction can be achieved through the distribution of naloxone, a nasal spray that can help reverse an overdose to buy time for the individual to get medical care, Reynolds said. Other harm reduction efforts could include the distribution of fentanyl test strips and the distribution of clean syringes.
“Treatment is important for a lot of folks, but if they die of overdoses before they ever open the door of a treatment facility, then we’re losing the battle,” Reynolds said.
While Reynolds said access to treatment has grown, it is still easier to get fentanyl than it is to receive treatment.
“Until we reverse that equation, we’re going to continue to see a high rate of fatalities,” he said.
Reynolds said the Family and Children’s Association focuses on the centralization of services to provide for all of the individual’s needs, including drug use and mental health services. He said the two issues of drug use and mental health often run concurrently and providing resources for both in the same facility can aid an individual’s recovery.
The Family and Children’s Association operates the only recovery center in Nassau County in Westbury. Reynolds said more than 10,000 people access the facility annually.
But Westbury is not an accessible location for every individual in recovery in Nassau County, he said, especially for those who live further away and don’t have reliable access to transportation.
Reynolds said Nassau County could benefit from three or four recovery centers.
Another barrier to providing recovery services, Reynolds said, is that their Westbury facility cannot serve minors. He said this isolates young people in Nassau County who have substance use disorder but can’t seek recovery resources. Establishing a youth facility would aid this, Reynolds said.
One program that Reynolds said has been effective in combatting overdoses and drug abuse is Sherpa, a program with Certified Recovery Peer Advocates who meet with individuals and families dealing with substance use disorder to provide peer support and facilitate access to resources.
Reynolds said the Sherpa program, which is free, assisted 511 people in 2024 and had a 91% engagement rate. He attributed the high rate of engagement, which he said is uncommon, to the personal connections made with individuals who also have substance use disorder and are amid recovery.
The Sherpa program was funded by Nassau County, yet Reyonlds said the contract for the funding was ended at the beginning of this year. He said he is looking to renew the contract so the program, which is now running at a reduced scope using state funds, can continue fully in Nassau County.
Nassau County Minority Leader Delia DeRiggi-Whitton also offered ideas on how Nassau County could combat the crisis, including grants to multiple local agencies that provide drug and substance abuse services.
Another idea DeRiggi-Whitton suggested was to provide additional grants to local area hospitals to help them combat the medical side of substance use, including Nassau University Medical Center – Nassau County’s only publicly funded hospital – or even Catholic Health.
She said providing funds to hospitals could increase the number of beds available for individuals seeking drug-related treatment, citing the current shortage in the county.
“As a legislator, it is so frustrating when you get a call that a family has a family member that wants to go into treatment and then they can’t find a bed that’s available,” DeRiggi-Whitton said.
This urgency was also expressed by Corinne Kaufman, whose granddaughter, Paige Gibbons, died of an overdose in 2022 after accidentally consuming fentanyl when she believed she was taking a Percocet at a friend’s sleepover. She has since launched the Families Against Fentanyl campaign, which distributes Narcan kits to middle school and high school nurses.
Kaufman addressed the Nassau County Legislature at its Dec. 16 meeting, asking the county to use its settlement funds to provide fentanyl test strips and Narcan kits to residents seeking the resources and bolstering education initiatives in schools.
Nassau County has acquired nearly $100 million in opioid settlement funds that could go towards these projects, but could be awarded up to $180 million.
Reynolds testified in Nassau County’s opioid settlement case, arguing that the pharmaceutical companies should be responsible for addressing the effects of the crisis they caused. He said the opioid settlement funds are exactly for that purpose.
Reynolds said the longer it takes for action to address the opioid crisis, the harder and more expensive it is to do it in the future.
“There are families this year that wound up observing the holidays with an empty chair or two around the dinner table,” Reynolds said. “That’s completely preventable.”
A Newsday investigation reported the county had spent $3.01 million of its opioid settlement funds, amounting to about 3.15% of the $95.5 million the county had received before the latest increase.
Efforts to solicit comment from Nassau County Executive Bruce Blakeman were unavailing.
The county kicked off spending the funds in 2022 with a $2.4 million award to local substance use treatment groups, with $2 million of it going to Nassau University Medical Center. Another $180,000 was awarded to Catholic Health’s Mercy Hospital and $60,000 grants were given to five other community groups.
The county’s Rules Committee recently approved a contract to test wastewater for opioids, other drugs and diseases. The wastewater testing is being funded by $259,292 in opioid lawsuit settlement funds and $193,000 in American Rescue Plan Act resources.
The county has allocated another $3.01 million in 14 vendor contracts and has guaranteed $12.7 million to another 18 vendors, according to Newsday. These funds are not considered officially spent yet.
Suffolk, on the other hand, has received $118 million in settlement funds and allocated more than $57 million in contracts but spent about $5.1 million so far.
Neighboring New York City had received $154 million in settlement funds by July, according to a September report. Funds had been spent on drug counseling and addiction consultation, syringe service programs at overdose prevention centers and other substance use services through the NYC H+H program.
Other counties have also implemented mobile units that individuals can call when they are thinking about stopping their drug use, and the mobile unit will drive to them and aid them through the detox process and the beginnings of recovery. Reynolds said implementing this program in Nassau would also be beneficial.