Over the weekend of September 28-30, Borough President James Oddo joined with the Consortium for Affordable Medical Technologies (CAMTech) at Massachusetts General Hospital, the State of New York, Northwell Health, Columbia University Mailman School of Public Health, and Columbia University’s Fu Foundation School of Engineering to host the Empire State Opioid Epidemic Innovation Challenge at Columbia University.
 
The goal of the weekend was to serve as an open-innovation platform for a diverse community to co-create solutions that have the potential to change the trajectory of the local and national opioid crisis. The idea for the challenge came from the BP’s Policy Team, who learned about a successful opioid “Hack-A-Thon” hosted by CAMTech in Boston in 2016. The Borough President’s office reached out to CAMTech and collaborated with them to create a similar event in New York City.

Kicking off the event, BP Oddo spoke about the local impact of the opioid crisis on the Staten Island community. Other speakers included Lt. Governor Kathy Hochul, OASAS Commissioner Arlene González-Sánchez, Dr. Ram Raju of Northwell Health, First Deputy New York City Police Commissioner Benjamin Tucker, and District Attorney Michael McMahon. In addition, those in recovery and family members who lost loved ones to addiction spoke about their personal experiences. Representatives from Google and CVS Health joined a panel discussion on what large companies can do to help fight this epidemic.

As part of the challenge, 12 multi-disciplinary teams were formed—composed of engineers, data experts, social workers, clinicians, and other professionals. The teams worked over the weekend to develop, finalize, and pitch their innovations with the help of subject-matter experts—representing government, hospitals, public health, business, first responders, and the treatment community—who made themselves available to offer mentorship. Each team gave a three-minute pitch on Sunday afternoon to the panel of judges.
 
Here are the winning entries:
 
Grand Prize: Team RAN won the $2,000 Empire State Opioid Epidemic Innovation Award. RAN links individuals with certified peer advocates to meet patients at hospitals and treatment recovery centers.
 
Northwell Health Innovation Award: Team Recover We won $1,500 for innovating a Google chat to link individuals with prevention, treatment, and opioid recovery programs.

CAMTech Innovation Award: Team Quick Reversal won $1,500 for innovating a nasal patch that dispenses Narcan to prevent opioid overdose.

Honorable Mention: Team ARK won $500 for innovating a kit that aggregates existing prevention, treatment, and recovery tools for hospitals, needle exchanges, detox centers, and rehab facilities.

“I’m so pleased to see this event come to life and be such a success. We recruited talented individuals with hard-to-find skill sets to help us add options to the toolkit we use to tackle the opioid epidemic. We are eager to see how these promising innovations progress and hope to apply the best of them on Staten Island,” said BP Oddo. “Thanks again to the Governor’s Office, NYS OASAS, Northwell Health, Columbia University’s Public Health and Engineering Schools—and most importantly our organizing entity that made this all possible—CAMTech at Massachussets General Hospital, for working with us to turn this idea into reality.”

The challenge continues at Demo Day on January 31st, where all 12 teams will have the opportunity to compete for a $10,000 prize. Each team will have four months to develop their ideas, bring their innovations to life, and perfect their pitches.

​On Wednesday, June 13th, Borough President Oddo joined with members of the NYPD to congratulate the 7th grade students who participated in the "Too Good For Drugs" program at I.S. 34 and Our Lady Help of Christians School. The “Too Good For Drugs” curriculum is co-taught in the classroom by a police officer and a teacher. The program, which is in its fourth year, takes place in 5th, 7th and 9th grade classes in public and parochial schools across the borough.
 
This is the first year that “Too Good For Drugs” was taught to all 7th graders. These students had already been part of the program in 5th grade.
 
Officer Hadley, who taught the Too Good For Drugs program at IS 34, told the students, "It's been so great to teach you in 5th and now 7th grade. It's been an honor to watch you grow and learn. We are proud of you for making good decisions."
 
BP Oddo addressed the students about the importance of speaking up if they see a friend or loved one making bad decisions involving drugs and alcohol, "Your voice is the most important one in the mission to help those who are struggling from this epidemic."
 
At the end of the ceremony, students took a pledge to abstain from tobacco, alcohol and drugs.

The Borough President's office released the draft of a borough-wide data strategy to combat the opioid epidemic. The preliminary report, entitled “Critical Measures for Tracking the Opioid Epidemic and Accelerating the Response on Staten Island,” reflects community input, research, and close collaboration with local experts, front-line workers, family members, clinicians, and individuals in recovery. The full draft can be found here.
 
Following the release of this draft, the second public comment period will be open through June 14, 2018. The Borough President’s Office is seeking input from Staten Islanders on the proposed measures and what can be done to move them in the right direction. Members of the public can comment here.
 
“The highlight of this endeavor has been the level of engagement and collaboration by our local partners who, notwithstanding the demanding day-to-day responsibilities on the front lines of this epidemic, have been informing our work and guiding us every step of the way,” said Borough President Oddo. “The way the borough’s treatment providers, first responders, government entities, hospitals and healthcare professionals, non-profits, and so many others have come together to serve a common cause during this challenging moment in our history pushes our office to do everything that we can to support them and their efforts to save lives. To that end, with the release of this draft report, we move closer to our goal of developing a borough-wide data strategy to align and thereby strengthen the collective response to this epidemic.”
 
In February, BP Oddo launched this initiative—in partnership with faculty at Johns Hopkins University and Northwell Health—to take a comprehensive look at the opioid crisis on Staten Island and develop a data strategy that would enable an accurate assessment of the progress made to date. The goal of the project is to identify a core set of measures to guide and align all of the invaluable work being done in the borough every day.
 
The road to this draft started with an open call for ideas, which generated nearly 100 submissions from Staten Island residents suggesting the measures that they believed were essential to tracking progress and planning efforts to address the opioid crisis. Then the office turned to the borough’s local experts—NYS Office of Alcoholism and Substance Abuse Services, NYC Department of Health and Mental Hygiene, District Attorney Michael McMahon’s Office, the New York City Police Department, the Staten Island Performing Provider System, Northwell Health/Staten Island University Hospital, Richmond University Medical Center, Staten Island Partnership for Community Wellness, and many more in a long list of key partners—to learn from their work and experience on Staten Island. 
 
To synthesize local input and a rapidly growing body of scientific evidence, the office assembled an Opioid Data Working Group of nationally renowned experts on data strategies and best practices to address opioid-related harms. The Opioid Data Working Group featured:
 
•  Anthony C. Ferreri, DBA (Chair). Dr. Ferreri is the former CEO of Staten Island University Hospital and is now Senior Advisor to the Borough President.
 
• Chinazo O. Cunningham, M.D., M.S. Dr. Cunningham is Professor and Associate Chief of General Internal Medicine at the Albert Einstein College of Medicine.
 
• Marc N. Gourevitch, MD, MPH. Dr. Gourevitch is Professor and Chair of the Department of Population Health at the NYU School of Medicine.
 
• Jonathan Morgenstern, PhD. Dr. Morgenstern is Assistant Vice President for Addiction Services at Northwell Health and Professor of Psychiatry at the Donald and Barbara Zucker School of Medicine.
 
• Nora Santiago, M.S. Ms. Santiago is Urban Policy Analyst and GIS Specialist at CUNY College of Staten Island.
 
“Staten Island is using data strategically in the fight against the opioid epidemic,” said Dr. Joshua M. Sharfstein, Director of the Bloomberg American Health Initiative. “If critical efforts can come together across the Borough to move these measures, many lives will be saved.”
 
Michael Dowling, President and CEO of Northwell  Health, said, “Northwell Health and Staten Island University Hospital are prepared to step in and do what we can to assist the borough president in combatting this public health crisis, which has already destroyed countless lives on Staten Island. Working collaboratively with law enforcement, government and community leaders, Northwell and its substance abuse treatment providers can bring clinical and research resources that can help turn the tide of this epidemic.”
 
District Attorney Michael McMahon said, “Make no mistake, the drug epidemic on Staten Island still rages across our borough. This crisis knows no bounds, and has taken a heavy toll on people of all ages, races, and socio-economic backgrounds; we see it firsthand every day. Bringing together our treatment, government, first responder and law enforcement communities will better align our efforts, ensuring we complement each other’s work and aim at the same target: ending the horrific scourge of addiction and overdose on Staten Island. Thank you to Borough President Oddo for spearheading this effort, and I look forward to the development of this important initiative”
 
Following this final public comment period, a final report will be released in June. 

On Friday, April 27th, Borough President James S. Oddo joined with Dennis Gonzalez, Acting Regional Director of the US Department of Health and Human Services, and representatives from NYPD and the recovery community outside the 122nd Precinct to announce the National Prescription Drug Take Back Day locations on Staten Island. National Prescription Drug Take Back Day took place on Saturday, April 28th.
 
“Staten Island is doing everything imaginable to push back against this epidemic, and I am proud to see that,” said BP Oddo. “We are doing lots of great things here, but we still need help. We need everyone to come together, law enforcement, the recovery community, elected officials, and especially the federal government.”
 
"In New York, every week, 70 people die due to a drug-related overdose," said Dennis Gonzalez. "It has to start with us, as individuals, in our homes. One way to do that is by cleaning out our medicine cabinets."
​
Chris Pancini, a former addict and recovery advocate, noted, "Through my experience of drug addiction, and the hardships of my life, this is near and dear to my heart. I know for myself that experimenting at 13 years old brought me to a really hard bottom. The first pill that I took could be removed from your medicine cabinet tonight."
 
If you missed National Prescription Drug Take Back Day, you can drop off unwanted prescription medications at the following locations throughout the year:
 

• NYPD 120th Precinct, 78 Richmond Terrace
• NYPD 122nd Precinct, 2320 Hylan Boulevard
• NYPD 123rd Precinct, 116 Main Street
• Delco Drugs, 3833 Richmond Avenue
• Super Health Pharmacy, 6400 Amboy Road
• Ocean Breeze Pharmacy, 1817 Hylan Blvd
• Randal Manor Pharmacy, 395 Forest Avenue

On Monday, July 24, BP Oddo joined with DA Mike McMahon to announce the launch of SIHOPE.org. The website contains various resources related to the opioid epidemic, ranging from information on addiction treatment services to ways to report drug activity in your neighborhood. As part of the public awareness campaign, lawn signs will encourage Staten Islanders to visit the site.
 
“Getting the word out about all of the efforts undertaken on the opioid epidemic is really important,” noted BP Oddo. “The District Attorney’s new website is making it a little easier with one central location for folks to access information.”
 
"It's a one-stop shop for those battling addiction, those with a loved one who is struggling, or those who simply want to get involved in helping end this horrible crisis," said District Attorney Michael McMahon.
 
To check out the website, click here.

​On Friday, June 2nd, BP Oddo joined with members of the NYPD to congratulate students who participated in this year’s Too Good For Drugs program at New Dorp High School. The curriculum is co-taught in the classroom by an NYPD police officer and a school teacher. Too Good For Drugs teaches children how to handle peer pressure, deal with outside influences and make healthy decisions through interactive games and skits.
 
The program, which is in its third year, took place in every 5th grade class on Staten Island. The program was also piloted for 7th graders in four middle schools and for freshman at New Dorp High School.
 
At the ceremony, BP Oddo and members of the NYPD spoke about the dangers of addiction and encouraged students to act as leaders in and out of the classroom. At the end of the ceremony, students took a pledge to abstain from tobacco, alcohol and drugs.
 
BP Oddo, who noted that he wants to see the program expand even further, told the graduates, “Through this program, you are going to be part of the solution. We need you. We can’t win this battle without you. We need your help in the pushback in the fight against addiction.”

“The idea here was not just to give you coping tools, but to mold yourself into that leadership role,” said Assistant Chief Edward Delatorre, Borough Commander of NYPD.
 
About 7,900 students participated in the program this year.