FY24 HFY1: The Prevention and Overdose Response Team (PORT) consists of a PORT Coordinator and a PORT Caseworker who work from the Cecil County Department of Emergency Services. A peer support worker is part of the PORT team and operates out of the Voices Of Hope organization/office and works in collaboration with the PORT team to respond to overdoses and connect victims and families to services and resources. PORT Cards are being distributed at events and to families.

FY24 HFY2: The Prevention Overdose Response Team (PORT) continues to provide services to victims and families of overdose. The PORT Caseworker left in November of 2023 and was replaced in April of 2024. The PORT Coordinator left their position in February of 2024 and has not been replaced yet. The lack of staff during this FY has resulted in the numbers being lower than anticipated.

FY23 HFY1: The Prevention and Overdose Response Team (PORT) consists of a PORT Coordinator and PORT Caseworker, operating from the Cecil County Department of Emergency Services (DES). In collaboration with partners from the Cecil County Health Department, Cecil County Sheriff's Office, and Voices of Hope nonprofit community recovery organization, the team reaches out to individuals who have overdosed as well as family members for non-fatal and fatal overdoses. The team's goals are to offer a connection to treatment services and support the needs of family members, helping to provide stability and preventing generational substance use. The PORT team meets bimonthly with community partners, collecting and reporting on each group's efforts.

FY23 HFY2: The Prevention and Overdose Response Team (PORT) consists of a PORT Coordinator and PORT Caseworker who continue to operate from the Cecil County Department of Emergency Services (DES). A Peer worker was added to the team in HFY2. The peer worker operates out the Voices Of Hope organization/office and works in collaboration with the PORT team to respond to overdoses and connect victims and families to services and resources. The PORT team continues to facilitate/host a bi-monthly meeting with community partners including the MD State Heroin Coordinator. The PORT team meets internally on a weekly basis to discuss updates and plan for the following week.

FY24 HFY1: A significant challenge PORT faced was losing their PORT caseworker in November. The position is expected to be posted in late January. Highlights for HFY1 included National Night Out, Back to School Jam, Back to School Kick-Off and Senior Expo. Distributed five cases of Narcan and other PORT giveaways. PORT received funding from the Cecil County Health Dept to purchase items for individuals in active substance use. Items such as sleeping bags, tents, blankets, coats, personal hygiene items and clothing were purchased by PORT.

FY24 HFY2: The loss of both the PORT Coordinator and PORT Caseworker proved to be a significant challenge in FY24. The program is entering FY25 without a PORT Coordinator in place, as the position hasn't been posted as of August 2024. The Department of Emergency Services is working with administration to finalize the parameters of the position before the job is posted. The new PORT caseworker was able to meet community partners and host resource tables at community events.

FY23 HFY1: One unique service provided by the PORT team is outreach to families who have lost a member to overdose. Generally, partners reach out to provide services to the substance user, and if they pass, those outreaches stop. The PORT team contacted a family member from a fatal overdose, which resulted in the sister and mother of the victim getting connected to grief services through a local community partner. They were extremely grateful for the assistance and readily engaged in grief counseling. Now the sister works for the partner agency, providing the same service to others who have lost a family member to overdose. It's encouraging to see the ripple effect from one small action. The team has participated in community events like the Back to School Jam in one of Cecil's neediest communities and the Trunk or Treat and Drug Take-Back event in October. They have provided training and distributed Narcan to partners, and distributed educational materials such as substance use slide guides. The PORT team was honored with the Cecil Champion Award at the Voices of Hope (recovery partner) annual banquet. The team also hosted a small grief event in December, for families who have suffered a loss. Some challenges include issues contacting family members of homeless substance users who have fatally overdosed, as well as coping with increasing numbers of suicide attempts. Additionally, the PORT team and our partners continue to work on the development of a unified system of data sharing. While we remain hopeful this will eventually come to fruition, merging several different data systems and considering confidentiality and HIPAA issues can be daunting.

FY23 HFY2: Overall barriers for the PORT team continue to be the homeless population, as they frequently do not have a set address or cellphone to be able to contact them for outreach, as well as not having contact information for the families of non-fatal and fatal overdoses. An increase in substance involved suicide attempts and ideations continue to be a barrier as these clients receive a automatic referral to Sante Mobile Crisis. PORT continued to have multiple successes when encountering clients in the field and over the phone. The PORT caseworker received a call from a client at 8am who was intoxicated and wanted to go to treatment as soon as possible. Within an hour, PORT caseworker was able to collaborate with the Cecil County Health Department and Voices of Hope to be able to pick this client up and take her to a treatment facility. After this client completed the full treatment stay, PORT Caseworker and Voices of Hope Peer provided outreach to the clients home. During this visit, the client stated that she had just received her one month sober chip and was active in IOP, local meetings, and job searching. By continuing follow up calls with the client, she is now receiving more monthly sober chips, successfully completed IOP, attending monthly meetings, and is now working at a treatment center. PORT Caseworker and Voices of Hope peer were also able to work with a client who was pregnant and actively using, we completed weekly visits for multiple months and was able to get the client to get a sonogram. PORT is still continuing to work with this client to follow her through her pregnancy. Community Events for HFY2 Include: African American Historical Festival, Narcan Training/Resource table at MRDC Family Education Center, Family movie Night at Elkton Police Department, Cecil County Help Center Produce Day, Mental Health Matters Night, Elkton High School, Community Safety Day, Rising Sun Sunfest, Juneteenth Celebration at Elkton Community Center.