For Immediate Release

Friday, June 29, 2018

Media Contact: John Guilfoil
Phone: 617-993-0003
Email: john@jgpr.net

P.A.A.R.I. Celebrates Three Years Working With Law Enforcement to Combat Opioid Crisis

GLOUCESTER — Executive Director Allie Hunter McDade and the Police Assisted Addiction and Recovery Initiative (P.A.A.R.I.) are pleased to announce that the organization celebrated its third anniversary earlier this week by honoring several individuals and groups who have helped contribute to its mission.

On Wednesday, June 27, representatives from some of the more than 400 P.A.A.R.I. law enforcement partners, along with government leaders and public health professionals, gathered at the Gloucester House restaurant to celebrate the work P.A.A.R.I. has done to change the national conversation about addiction.

P.A.A.R.I. was founded in 2015 in concert with the groundbreaking Gloucester ANGEL Initiative, which reinvented the way law enforcement agencies confront addiction in their own communities by treating it as a treatable disease rather than a crime.

Working with a constantly expanding network of law enforcement agencies, P.A.A.R.I. is continuing to make progress toward a collective vision where pre-arrest, treatment-first programs become a standard policing practice across the country. This ongoing effort is reducing overdose deaths, expanding access to treatment, improving public safety, reducing crime, diverting people away from the criminal justice system, reducing stigma and increasing trust between law enforcement and their communities.

“Our third anniversary serves as an inspirational reminder of the critical, lifesaving work that our colleagues in the law enforcement, public health and government sectors are doing each day,” P.A.A.R.I. Executive Director Allie Hunter McDade said. “We’re so proud of progress we’ve made in this fight against addiction, but it’s important to remember that there’s still more work to be done to reverse the trend of overdose deaths that have robbed communities and families of loved ones across America.”

P.A.A.R.I. honored several individuals and groups in multiple categories for their contributions to the effort to combating the opioid crisis, including Rep. Joseph Kennedy III, who addressed the attendees via video message.

Law Enforcement Leadership

• Chief Peter Volkmann — Chatham Police Department (New York)
• Commissioner William B. Evans and Deputy Superintendent Winifred Cotter — Boston Police Department
• Chief Tom Bashore — Nashville Police Department (North Carolina)
• Chief Joseph Cordeiro — New Bedford Police Department
• Chief Robbie Moulton — Scarborough Police Department (Maine)
• Sheriff Kevin Coppinger, Gary Barrett, Community Relations Coordinator, and the entire Detox Unit team — Essex County Sheriff’s Department

Government Leadership 

• Rep. Joe Kennedy III
• Jim Cormier — New England High Intensity Drug Trafficking Area
• Gloucester Mayor Sefatia Romeo Theken
• Massachusetts Secretary of Health and Human Services Marylou Sudders

Advocacy and Community Leadership 

•  Marty Ginivan and Christine Bobek — Grace Center
• Suzanne Graves — Evelyn Lilly Lutz Foundation, Beverly Hospital
• Sarah Cloud — Beth Isreal Deaconess Hospital-Plymouth
• Dr. Sarah Wakeman — Massachusetts General Hospital
• Emily Haber — Massachusetts Service Alliance

Stephenie Jesi Memorial Scholarship

• Courtney Favazza
• Ieisha Clements
• Matthew Foley

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