It was in mid-September of 2014 that Lycoming County Judge Nancy Butts held an open meeting for interested citizens at the Community Arts Center in Williamsport to talk about the drug problem Judge Butts had set up the Lycoming County Drug Court in 1998, but after a decade and a half of only seeing more and more people come before her, she was convinced that there had to be a better solution to the rising epidemic of opioid addiction. Over 100 people attended that special meeting to discuss a community-wide effort to address this social plague.

Out of that initial meeting was birthed the Heroin Task Force, composed of stakeholders organized in committees in government, law enforcement, health services, social services, and faith-based organizations. It was more like a confederation than an actual organization. There was lots of energy and enthusiasm, and the HTF had some positive results, but it was obvious that more structure was needed.

This gave birth in January of 2016 to Project Bald Eagle. The intent was to raise the Heroin Task Force to the next level, but the opposite happened. It seemed that the “top-down” approach of Project Bald Eagle ran counter to the former “bottom-up” activities of the Heroin Task Force. After two years of struggling to bring the component parts together, the plug was pulled on the project.

However, those who had been active in the fight for so long felt that the best of both worlds could still be found. So it was, on Friday, June 15th, a standing room only crowd came to the County Commissioners Meeting Room in the Executive Plaza to learn of the new Lycoming County Substance Abuse Coalition and its three-year strategic plan. Everything about this presentation demonstrated that this consortium might just be the right idea at the right time.

Moderated by Judge Nancy Butts, who serves as co-chair of the Coalition along with Shea Madden, Executive Director of the West Branch Drug and Alcohol Abuse Commission, testimony was heard from PA State Senator Gene Yaw; Dr. Lynn Mirigian, University of Pittsburgh School of Pharmacy; Dr. Brad Miller, UPMC Susquehanna; Wendy Hastings, Emergency Medical Service Program Manager, Lycoming County Department of Public Safety; Chris Ebner, Deputy Warden of Inmate Services, Lycoming County Prison; John Stahl, Supervisor, Lycoming County Adult Probation Office; Charles E. Kiessling, Jr., Coroner, Lycoming County; Todd W. Fausnaught, M. D., Clean Slate; Dick Bradley, Pharmacist; Corporal Jeffrey Hughes, Old Lycoming Township Police Department; and Dr. Beth McMahon, Lycoming County Youth Development Task Force.

The purpose of all this was to present the strategic plan for coordinated action and implementation to reduce overdoses and the devastation caused by the opioid epidemic in Lycoming County. Amazingly, all these speakers were able to introduce their participation in this new Coalition within their five minute allotted time limit!

In some way, this act of discipline perhaps demonstrated that this consortium will be different from past efforts. The urgency and passion has always been there, but what is different now is the evident cooperative efforts between the various elements.

What is also different is that there is a hunger to discover what will really work in stemming the tide of opioid addiction. The term “evidence-based solutions” was heard by many of the speakers. Now, these solutions can be plugged in the best way to help the most people. Yes, it has taken years to get to this point, but as Abraham Lincoln once said, “I might walk slow, but I don’t walk back.” Lycoming County appears to be making a long journey in the right direction.