The West Side Heroin Task Force held a town hall meeting Tuesday at Malcolm X College in Chicago’s Near West Side neighborhood to discuss the ongoing “opioid crisis.”
Elected officials, state agencies and local organizations discussed drug use, prevention, response, treatment and recovery, according to a news release from the task force.
Among those in attendance, the group says, was Rep. La Shawn Ford, Nirav D. Shah, M.D., J.D., director of Illinois Department of Public Health; Dr. Elizabeth Salisbury-Afshar, medical director of behavioral health, Chicago Department of Public Health; Maria Bruno, Illinois Department of Human Services, Division of Alcoholism and Substance Abuse; Dr. Juleigh Novinski-Konchak, Cook County Health and Hospital Systems; Sam Gillespie, Illinois Department of Children and Family Services; Dan Bigg, director, Chicago Recovery Alliance and Dr. Thomas Huggett of the Lawndale Christian Health Center.
Attendees were given the opportunity to discuss issues and ask the speakers questions.