Season 1:OEN proudly Presents some of the frontline hereos

Tiffany Anderson works with the Jewish Family and Children Services Project NESST - a group that work with parents, caregivers, and infants to address the impact of substance use and trauma on parents’ mental health, the early parent-child relationship, and infant development. Services are available free of charge to families of all faiths and races throughout Greater Boston who are caring for infants who were exposed to opiates, cocaine, prescription medications, or other substances that may have contributed to challenges in the infant’s postpartum course or in the parent-infant relationship providing support and therapy for newborns exposed to substances.    

DR. MICHAEL C. ANGELINI  is Professor of Pharmacy Practice at MCPHS University in Boston, Massachusetts and a Psychiatric Clinical Pharmacist at Saint Luke’s Hospital in New Bedford, MA.
He is also a Psychopharmacology Consultant at the University of Massachusetts Medical School’s Commonwealth Pharmacy Services program in Worcester, MA. Additionally he has been a clinical consultant to primary care, community health centers and group homes throughout New England.
He has served on faculty positions in the Addiction Fellowship Program at Boston University School of Medicine, the Massachusetts School of Professional Psychology, and Harvard Medical School. Dr. Angelini earned his Master’s in Clinical Psychology at Boston University and his Doctor of Pharmacy degree at MCPHS University.
Board-certified in Psychiatric Pharmacy, Dr. Angelini has published in textbooks and peer-reviewed journals for both medicine and pharmacy. Dr. Angelini is a member of the American Association of Colleges of Pharmacy, American Society of Health Systems Pharmacists and the Massachusetts Pharmacists Association. 

Bob Bongiorno is the Police Chief of the Bedford Police Department in Bedford, MA.  Bob has become a leader in the law enforcement movement that recognizes those suffering with opioid use disorder as a medical problem and not a legal one. Bob helped established the Central Middlesex Police Chief Association a group of 9 communities that has implemented innovative programs to help individuals and families who are struggling with opioid use disorder.

 Leonard Campanello is a former police chief of Gloucester and co-founder of PAARI, the Police Assisted Addiction and Recovery Initiative.   The administration of President Barack Obama recognized Leonard Campanello at the White House for his revolutionary ANGEL Initiative that works to combat drug addiction.  

Under this initiative, the Gloucester Police Department would not charge any person afflicted with the disease of addiction if the person presented themselves to the police department, with or without any drugs, and asked for help to get into treatment.

The police promised to help every individual who came into the station, regardless of their city of residence and their insurance status. In addition, each person looking for help would be assigned an “Angel” who would sit with the person through the intake process until they are referred into an acute or long-term treatment facility.

 Mackenzie Diezeck is a Jail Diversion Clinician serving nine communities in Massachusetts.   In her roles Mackenzie works in partnership with police officers in each community to provide resources, support and assistance to those struggling with substance use and mental health. When police are called to incidents involving substance use and/or mental health, Mackenzei will also respond. As the JDP clinician, Mackenzie will also follow up with people after those incidents to connect those individuals with resources and programming. 

 Dr. Bryan Gendron is an Emergency Department Pharmacist at Boston Medical Center (BMC).BMC is the largest safety-net hospital and Level I trauma center in New England, and has been the epicenter of the opioid epidemic in Massachusetts. Bryan, who works at the frontline of the epidemic, reflects on how the opioid crisis has changed his experience in emergency medicine. 

Michael Higgins is the Director of Substance Abuse Prevention in the town of Billerica, MA, and a former probation officer who served 35 years in the Massachusetts court system. As the opioid overdose epidemic began ravaging communities across Massachusetts, Mike started the Heroin Education Awareness Taskforce (HEAT), and innovative program designed to provide education, treatment and detox stabilization to those with opioid use disorder. HEAT has gone one to help thousands of people who struggle with opioid use disorder.

Joanne Peterson is the Founder and Executive Director of Learn to Cope (LTC).Funded by the Massachusetts Department of Public Health (MADPH), Learn to Cope has grown to have a full staff who collaborate with communities across the state, spreading messages of prevention, education, awareness, and advocacy. 

With the growth and expansion of LTC, Joanne has been called upon by high-level government and law enforcement officials, coalitions, and educators to assist in their efforts to combat the opioid epidemic. 

Currently, Ms. Peterson sits on the Massachusetts Health and Human Services Emergency Department working group along with the Governor’s Special Commission to investigate and study licensed addiction treatment centers for the Commonwealth of Massachusetts. 

In July 2015, the Arlington, Mass. Police Department and Chief Frederick Ryan outlined a new strategy for police officers to get directly involved in the demand side of the heroin and opiate crisis by working with a public health clinician to conduct direct outreach to the known addict community and their families, friends, and caregivers.

The Arlington Police Department is committed to aggressively enforcing the drug laws, especially when it comes to investigating and arresting drug dealers and drug traffickers. However, once a drug dealer is arrested, police are often left with their list of customers.

These lists are literally collections of people, often Arlington residents, who are living in the grip of addiction.

A public health clinician will be embedded with the Arlington Police Department, and together, they will reach out to these people and their families. The goal of the Initiative is to educate families, help provide and teach the administration of potentially lifesaving Nasal Narcan, and to make addicts and their families, friends, and caregivers aware of treatment options and resources available to them.

“In the past, we would not do anything with the information we learned about the customers of drug dealers, and the addicts would simply find a new dealer for their next fix,” Chief Ryan said. “The time for inaction is over.”

Mary Wheeler is the Program Director of Healthy Streets Outreach in Lynn, MA where they focus on services for both injection drug users and sex workers. They are part of MA Department of Public Health's Naloxone Pilot Site and they also provide Syringe Service Programs. 

Mary was a pioneer in helping those struggling with opioids. She was among a small group of concerned caregives who handed out naloxone to those suffering long before it became common practice. In addition to running Healthy Streets,  Mary often goes to homes and conducts “door knocks” after an overdose to follow up with families who may need help. If you know someone who needs help with substance use disorder Mary will always be there to help.   

 Stephen P. Wood, MS, ACNP is an acute care nurse practitioner practicing emergency medicine in Boston, Massachusetts, and a fellow in bioethics at the Center for Bioethics at Harvard Medical School in Boston. Stephen has been active in addressing the opioid healthcare crisis as a practicing nurse, educator,  and as a public health official.His focus is on harm reduction and access to care in the setting of substance use disorder and human trafficking. He is also a consultant for the Southern Middlesex Regional Drug Task Force, and the New England Coalition Against Trafficking; the chair of the Winchester Hospital Substance Use Task Force; and the co-chair of the Southern Middlesex County Mental Health Working Group.  He regularly contributes to the Petrie-Flom Center blog Bill of Health which can be found here  https://blog.petrieflom.law.harvard.edu/author/swood27/ 

Dr. Allison Burns, PharmD  a registered pharmacist specializing in substance abuse and addiction medicine. She is the founder, president, and CEO of End Mass Overdose Inc., a nonprofit organization dedicated to stemming the opioid epidemic, and a former U.S. Navy pilot.