CRANBERRY TWP — Cranberry Township Emergency Medical Services is starting a new countywide program to reach out to drug addicts and get them the help they need.

The overdose response team will visit drug users in an effort to get them into rehab or guide them in other ways that can help them stay safe — and alive — until they are ready to seek treatment, said Ted Fessides, deputy chief of administration of Cranberry EMS.

“Police aren’t going to arrest our way out of the problem and EMS isn’t going to Narcan our way out of it,” Fessides said. “It takes multiple agencies working together. ... We already know today what we’re doing isn’t working, so everyone needs to look at new strategies to combat this problem.”

Cranberry EMS is working with the county’s drug and alcohol program, the sheriff’s department and local rehabilitation facilities to get the overdose response team program up and running.

The team is part of the EMS’s Hope Program that began in December 2016 by handing out postcards to drug overdose patients with information about rehab services in the area.

Fessides said while it was a good start to tackling the opioid crisis, there was no way to track how effective it was or how many people sought treatment because of the cards.

Thanks to a $5,000 grant from the Magellan Cares Foundation, Cranberry EMS can take the program to the next level by visiting drug users where they live to get them help. Fessides said they hope to set up the first visits by May or June.

Law enforcement and EMS agencies around the county will have release forms to get people signed up for the program. It might be overdose patients or people that police encounter through their jobs that are identified as needing help with drug addiction. Cranberry EMS will then set up a visit with the person.

The team will be comprised of an EMS personnel member, a law enforcement officer and a representative from the county drug and alcohol program or a local rehabilitation center, Fessides said. The rehab representative will talk about getting clean and be able to get the person signed up for a treatment program during the visit.

Kyle Harder, director of business development with Gateway Rehab, said recovery specialists from Gateway’s Centers of Excellence state grant-funded care coordination program will be part of the team. The recovery specialists are people who are in recovery themselves and can relate to the struggle of getting clean, he said.

“Identifying with them is one of the biggest benefits,” Harder said. “People are more willing to talk to them.”

If the person is not interested or ready for treatment, the EMS staffer will talk about harm reduction strategies, Fessides said. That means things like finding clean needle sites and how to safely try new dosages of drugs.

Fessides said this kind of education is controversial because it appears as though the EMS is condoning addiction, but it’s more about keeping people alive.

“Part of it is educating the public and other public safety responders about addiction, because they think it’s a choice,” Fessides said. “The first time people use, it is a choice. But opioids work on the pleasure sensors in the brain. It totally rewires the brain. Families of addicts will tell you it’s not the same person they knew.”

The law enforcement officer will be there for the safety of the two other agencies and to build community relations.

The $5,000 grant will allow the team to do 50 visits, Fessides said, enough to create a good data set on which to gauge the effectiveness of the program. If it works, they hope to get more grant funding or other funds to continue it.