SAFE Glen Cove Coalition "Keeping Glen Cove SAFE"

The SAFE Glen Cove Coalition held its sustainability planning meeting on February 28th to brainstorm ideas for the implementation of this year-round prevention campaign.

Focusing on the question: The Coalition is conducting a Keeping Glen Cove SAFE from Opioid Abuse Campaign in 2018. What do we need to do to make the community aware and participate? Coalition members identified four areas of concentration : Changing the Laws Regarding Sentencing Guidelines When Addressing Drug Sales Cases; Social Media; Community Forums and Presentations to educate the public; . Prevention Education in the schools and Community.

The Coalition will kick-off the Campaign with a NARCAN training on March 5th at Congregation Tifereth Israel. The rising number of opioid overdose deaths has led to an increase in public health efforts to make NARCAN available to at-risk persons and their families, as well as first responders and others in the community. The training will be a collaborative effort between SAFE, Nassau County Legislator Delia DeRiggi Whitton and Nassau County Department of Mental Health and Chemical Dependency Services. The training will provide instruction on how to administer this life saving tool to concerned residents . Narcan kits will provided to all who attended. For information or if you want to register online please go to www.nassaucountyny.gov/overdosetraining.

"This is just the beginning", stated SAFE Board Chair and Strategic Planner Georgie Connett, "2018 will serve to educate the public about this devastating epidemic. Through prevention, education and intervention I'm confident that residents will become more knowledgeable about this and become proactive in the fight against addiction."

The Coalition is aware of the community's needs through its ongoing collaborative efforts. It is composed of twelve sectors of the community which are: youth, youth serving organizations, parents, business community, media, school, law enforcement, faith based organizations, civic and volunteer groups, healthcare professionals, state, county and local governmental agencies and other organizations with expertise in substance abuse.

The mission of the Coalition is to eliminate alcohol and substance abuse in Glen Cove. The Coalition is overseen by SAFE's Board of Directors and Co-Chaired by Health Teacher Tony Gallo and SAFE Executive Director, Dr. Sharon Harris.

For more information about the SAFE Glen Cove Coalition visit SAFE Inc. at: www.safeglencove.org, or follow them on: www.facebook.com/safeglencovecoalition.