Burlington County launched the Hope One Mobile Outreach unit in 2019 to offer overdose prevention training and antidote.
The Burlington County Commissioners are crediting county support services with bringing county drug deaths down to their lowest number in close to a decade.
A total of 83 suspected drug deaths were reported in Burlington County last year, according to the preliminary numbers posted by the office of the state medical examiner. That represents a 35% reduction from the 128 suspected drug deaths in 2023. It is also the county’s lowest annual death toll since 2014, when 75 drug deaths were reported in the county, according to state data.
Among the county programs initiated in the past six years are two Peer Recovery Centers, where residents in recovery can receive free support services, wellness activities and information about treatment programs and community resources. The centers are part of the county’s comprehensive response to substance use disorder.
The county also launched the Hope One Mobile Outreach unit in 2019. It visits destinations to offer overdose prevention training and antidote, and makes referrals to recovery services, housing and other resources. A second mobile outreach unit called Hope One for Youth began last year to provide more specialized mental-health and substance-use prevention services for teens and children.
Other county actions include the creation of a regional Opioid Advisory Council to develop recommendations for disbursement of opioid settlement monies the county receives, and distribution of opioid emergency kits to local high schools and libraries. The kits are similar to wall-mounted automated external defibrillator cabinets but contain the overdose antidote Naloxone, also known as Narcan.
More than 230 emergency kits have been distributed so far, and the county has also trained and distributed Narcan to hundreds of first responders.
The Department of Human Services Behavioral Health and Addiction Services Division has also teamed with the Burlington County Traumatic Loss Coalition and YMCA of the Pines in Medford to offer a free day camp for children impacted by substance use disorder.
