Concord Hires Its First Project FIRST Substance Abuse Director

CONCORD, NH — The city of Concord has hired its first substance abuse interventionist to help first responders, police officers, and the public tackle the continuing opioid and substance abuse crisis in the state of New Hampshire. Jeffrey Stewart, the city’s new Project FIRST director, started the job on May 1, and will work with families and support networks to get capital region residents into treatment. FIRST stands for First responders Initiating Recovery, Support and Treatment, and is part of the state’s “hub and spoke” approach to reducing opioid overdoses and deaths, getting residents into treatment and on the road to recovery, as well as training first responders to administer Narcan.

Dan Andrus, the chief of the Concord Fire Department, stated that Stewart will coordinate with different community stakeholders in an effort to promote prevention and recovery. He added that Stewart had a wealth of experience in the field.

“(Stewart) is a paramedic and has a lot of background there and credentialing around being an interventionist,” noted Andrus. “He has a tremendous background both in working in substance abuse and recovery and as a paramedic so he really an expert in both disciplines.”

Andrus added that he attended trainings provided by Stewart in the past and knew he would be perfect for this community role.

Andrus said that one of the reasons why Concord has never implemented a “safe stations” program like those in Manchester and Nashua was because there was no place to take people. With Riverbend opening a new center in Concord as well as its mobile crisis team, the city has the ability to move people into treatment and hospitalization. Ideally, though, he said, Stewart’s efforts would be “really is proactive,” adding, “hopefully, we can get to people before they overdose.” Stewart will be working with substance abuse coordinators in an effort to get to people before they are addicted to drugs, at the individual level.

Andrus noted that everyone has been touched by the substance abuse issue and this was just another way Concord can assist its residents.

Concord Police Chief Bradley Osgood said he was looking forward to working with Stewart with the department establishing a partnership and point of contact.

“Now that the doorway has been established in Concord, we’re starting to see the evolution of (action with) the Riverbend Crisis Center and Project FIRST,” Osgood said. “We have somebody who is going to be a liaison and as Mr. Stewart (and) as the program evolves, and additional data and/or resources become available, they will go through this liaison that we have as part of this team. We’re looking forward to that.”

Osgood added that there was still a lack of resources for care and treatment. At the same time, not every person involved in the epidemic requires in-patient treatment. Much of the treatment, he said, can be done with via out-patient resources.

“We’re going to make very good progress during the next couple of years,” Osgood stated.

Stewart, who resides in Nashua, has a long history of working in the healthcare industry as a consultant and operations manager.

During the last seven years, he worked for Dragon Shield Consulting in Nashua, a nonprofit that focused on substance use disorder intervention. He also worked as the director of operations for Recovery Centers of America and Regional Home Care, as an operations manager, both in Massachusetts. He was also director of clinical services and education for Trinity EMS in Lowell and Cataldo Ambulance in Somerville for 12 years. A veteran of the U.S. Army, as a combat medical specialist, Stewart also worked at St. Joseph Hospital in Nashua.

On his first day on the job, Stewart said he was excited to be in the position and was looking forward to meeting with members of the Concord community.