Milwaukee program makes progress in opioid overdose fight: 'Linking people to treatment'
Milwaukee program makes progress in opioid addiction fight
The Milwaukee Overdose Response Team, or MORI, has been making progress in the fight against opioid overdoses. Overdoses are the leading cause of death in the city.
MILWAUKEE - It is the number one killer in Milwaukee -- not COVID-19, not homicides, but drug overdoses. 2020 has been a terrible year for overdose deaths, but officials said they finally have some food news about a program credited with saving dozens of lives.
"Even with the increase in the number of homicides, the number of opioid deaths are more than three times higher than the number of homicides in the City of Milwaukee," said Milwaukee Mayor Tom Barrett.
2020 has been an incredibly challenging year for combatting addiction and recovery. However, there is good news on the opioid front; the city's task force in charge of correcting the epidemic has had some big wins.
"We've seen now over 60 individuals take advantage of that program since the inception of that program," said Milwaukee Alderman Michael Murphy. "That's 60 lives that quite honestly wouldn't be here today if we didn't have that program in place."
The program is called Milwaukee Overdose Response Initiative -- or MORI, for short.
"We've learned that there's a lot more that goes into someone that's into misusing substances," said Capt. Michael Wright with the Milwaukee Fire Department. "No one in their right mind would do something on purpose that would result in them losing their homes, their families, their life, their safety, or their health."
MORI is made up of community paramedics and medically-trained firefighters. The task force goes into homes and helps those battling addictions develop a recovery strategy.
"Addiction is a disease," said Milwaukee Health Commissioner Jeanette Kowalik. "MORI is very essential to linking people to treatment."
The COVID-19 pandemic, though, has hindered the 62-person team for a few months. As addicts struggle to find resources during the pandemic, the concern of recidivism grows -- proving that the road to recovery is a long one.
"We have made progress, but we have a long long way to go," said Barrett.
City leaders said that the MORI program has become an example at the national level.
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