Maryland’s Opioid Operational Command Center (OOCC), in partnership with Montgomery County’s Department of Health and Human Services (DHHS), will host a town hall on Thursday, Nov. 2, to hear ideas from residents on how Maryland can address the opioid crisis. The event will be held from 6-7:30 p.m. in the third floor hearing room of the Montgomery County Council Office Building, which is located at 100 Maryland Ave in Rockville.
The town hall will also be livestreamed on County Cable Montgomery and on several Facebook accounts, including Maryland's Before Its Too Late and DHHS.
Emily Keller, Maryland’s special secretary of opioid response, and the Maryland Opioid Operational Command Center have hosted town halls throughout the State for the past several months to hear about the impact opioids are having on communities. Joining Secretary Keller will be County and State officials including Alyssa Lord, deputy secretary for behavioral health with the Maryland Department of Health and Montgomery County Health Officer Kisha Davis.
“Like many communities across Maryland, Montgomery County has been impacted by the opioid crisis,” said County Executive Marc Elrich. “We appreciate the sense of urgency that Secretary Keller and the Moore-Miller administration have and their desire to hear about the challenges facing communities. We have been working hard on addressing the issue here, but we cannot do it alone and we welcome the partnership with the State. I encourage residents to attend.”
Information about County programs and services will be available at resource tables from 6-6:30 p.m. On-the-spot training also will be offered on how to use Naloxone, the nasal spray used to reverse the effects of an opioid overdose. The listening session will be held from 6:30-7:30 p.m.
Attendees of the town hall will have an opportunity to speak and share their ideas on supporting people with substance use disorders, and for preventing overdoses in Montgomery County.
The event is open to the public, but advanced registration is highly recommended. The registration form includes information on signing up to make public comments. Registered speakers will have two minutes and will be called on to provide their comments.
Anyone needing a sign language interpreter or services to participate is asked to make those requests with as much advance notice as possible. Organizers would like to have at least three full business days in advance of the meeting to plan. Requests can be made by contacting Stella Sharif at 240-777-1603 or by sending an email to stella.sharif-chikiar@montgomerycountymd.gov. Last minute requests will be accepted but may not be possible to fulfill.
The OOCC is Maryland’s principal coordinating office for addressing the opioid and overdose crisis. The OOCC works to increase collaboration at the State and local level to promote access to compassionate, person-centered care by supporting substance-use programming across five pillars: prevention, harm reduction, treatment, recovery, and public safety.
For more information about how Montgomery County is addressing the opioid epidemic, visit KnowTheRisksMC.org.
Visit Maryland's Before Its Too Late website for information on the State's strategy for reducing overdose deaths.
