PISCATAQUIS COUNTY, Maine — A group of organizations is working to launch a program to address opioid use disorder in one of Maine's most rural areas.
According to a report from the Maine Drug Data Hub, there were nine deaths related to overdoses in Piscataquis County in 2022.
The Piscataquis Response to Opioid Use Disorder initiative is working to provide direct services to those in the area.
It's all part of the Bureau of Justice Assistance's Reaching Rural initiative, which provides funding and resources to rural communities.
Leaders with the PROUD initiative are hoping to support more than one hundred people through this program.
"There’s not a lot of resources here for people," Bob Young, the sheriff for Piscataquis County, said.
Sheriff Young is part of the initiative hoping to provide through the program re-entry education for those being held at Piscataquis County Jail.
“I’d like to see the inmates who are here because of substance use issues to be able to be successful when they leave here,” Sheriff Young said.
For Sue Mackey Andrews, the facilitator of Helping Hands with Heart, an organization that is also part of this initiative, it hits home.
“I think that he would be with us today if he'd had a long-term support program once he got out of that prison,” Mackey Andrews said.
Mackey Andrews said she lost her brother to drug addiction and hopes the program can help others.
“Having seen that from a personal place and I’m a pretty privileged person I can only imagine what it's like for other people where they don’t know where to go,” Mackey Andrews said.
Another organization part of the program is St. Andre Home which has a program, CourageLIVES, working to support individuals and families impacted by human trafficking, exploitation, and substance use.
“We see the needs of people in rural populations that have been trafficked, abused, and exploited in the rural parts of the state of Maine,” Carey Nason, the executive director of Saint Andre Home and CourageLIVES, said.
Leaders said due to the overlap of needs, collaboration is important to ensure the community gets what it needs.
“We wanna help communities be able to care for the communities that are living there,” Nason said. “We care about our neighbors.”
Leaders with the PROUD initiative are aiming to launch the program early next year. The organizations part of the initiative include the Piscataquis County sheriff, Helping Hands with Heart, Recovery Wellness, and St. Andre Home/CourageLIVES.