New River Health District is tackling Virginia’s opioid crisis

NEW RIVER VALLEY, VA – Southwest Virginia is still struggling with the effects of the opioid epidemic, but one group in the New River Valley is trying to save lives and help people fight addiction.

“We don’t have any more time for people to hit rock bottom,” said Chris Alderman, community outreach and harm reduction coordinator for the New River Health District. “It used to be, you have to let people hit rock bottom. Fentanyl keeps people from bottoming out.”

The New River Health District is involved in the fight against opioids in the New River Valley through its Rise Above harm reduction program.

“I got a call from a participant who said she revived seven people in Montgomery County in four days,” Alderman said. “We really have overdoses every day. In our program, five have been missing since January.”

He said their mission is simple: provide peer support, refer for treatment and purchase harm reduction tools.

Five days a week they load up a van and are in different parts of the New River Valley doing just that.

“The need is definitely there, so far we’ve had 291 members since January,” Alderman said. “We have to get the word out here that we have free services for people to test their substances so they have naloxone.”

I met with two members of the Rise Above team who deal with people every day, and they said their story is similar to many people they meet.

“I’ve been a drug addict for over 20 years,” Josh Tolbert said.

“I’ve lived this lifestyle for 18-odd years,” Devin Perdue said. “I can communicate directly with every person we come in contact with in one way or another.”

They showed me their harm reduction van to see what they were giving people. They said their experience allows them to connect with and support people who are struggling.

“Every day, people talk about how others talk about them,” Tolbert said. “They’re trash, they’re tweakers, they don’t want to hear it. We let them know that we care about them, we see them. It’s more than just what we do from the van, it comes from our hearts.”

They said this fight is far from over, but it is important to continue educating people and taking care of our communities.