New mobile medication unit comes to the Bronx
A ribbon-cutting was held on Wednesday on Brook Avenue for the vehicle that will provide methadone and other medication-assisted options.
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Organizers celebrated the arrival of a new mobile medication unit they’re calling Healing on Wheels.
A ribbon-cutting was held on Wednesday on Brook Avenue for the vehicle that will provide methadone and other medication-assisted options to combat the opioid and overdose crisis in our backyard.
"We know that methadone treatment reduces the risk of overdose by 50%. So this is truly lifesaving treatment and this is in a community that has a very high rate of overdose deaths, so it's really needed right here,” said Dr. Chinazo Cunningham, commissioner of the state’s Office of Addiction Services and Supports.
According to the Department of Health, there was an 18.5% increase of opioid overdose deaths from 2020 to 2021, and organizers say that relapse prevention, peer support and other treatments will make traditional treatment more accessible.
The mobile unit will not only provide medicine, but peer specialists that will be on hand and are specially trained in harm reduction, ready to help residents start their recovery journey.
