April 24, 2024 - The opioid crisis has affected every community in the United States, including the City of Fort Wayne. Our community has been severely affected by this crisis through the tragic deaths of too many of our citizens. The Fort Wayne Police Department has been collaborating with other agencies and non-governmental organizations to address the opioid crisis in our community.
In 2018, The Lutheran Foundation convened a community group to discuss ideas on how we should work on the opioid crisis in our community. As a result of these meetings over the course of a year, The Lutheran Foundation applied for and received a $1.3 million grant to create a mobile response to this crisis. In October of 2019, FWPD detectives and Parkview Peer Recovery Coaches went out into our community and spoke with people who experienced a non-fatal overdose and worked on connecting them to treatment and recovery services.
Since the start of this program, the FWPD Hope and Recovery Team has collaborated with a multitude of partners to help us with this crisis. These partners include: The Lutheran Foundation, Parkview Health Systems, Lutheran Social Services of Indiana, Project.ME Street Outreach Harm Reduction Program, Recovery Café, Avenues Recovery, Fort Wayne Recovery/Allendale Treatment Center, Allen County Department of Health, Overdose Lifeline, Inc., Amani Family Services, YWCA of Fort Wayne, Connect Allen County, School Care Team, Allen County Drug and Alcohol Consortium, Mom of an Addict Support Group, Fort Wayne Medial Society Alliance, Downtown Allen County Public Library, Trinity English Lutheran Church and Bowen Recovery Center.
Because of these valuable partnerships, the FWPD Hope and Recovery Team was able to connect people who had overdosed to treatment services and reduced the fatal overdoses in 2023 by 22%. The distribution of Narcan, a life-saving opioid reversal drug, has also significantly helped reduce the overdose deaths in our community.