Deb Dreher, RN, DNP, Chair of the Opioid Task Force, honors Fellsmere Police Chief Keith Touchberry, chair of the task force’s Public Safety Sub-Committee.
March 19 2020 – At the February meeting of the Treasure Coast Opioid Task Force, two outstanding members were recognized by the multiagency group: Chief Keith Touchberry of the Fellsmere Police Department and Angela Aulisio, Community Benefit Coordinator at Cleveland Clinic Martin Health.
Both Touchberry and Aulisio have demonstrated exemplary commitment to the health, safety and wellbeing of the community with their efforts to implement initiatives that save lives.
They are each founding members of the Opioid Task Force, a four-county collaboration between law enforcement, hospitals, treatment facilities, mental health care providers and elected officials who educate their colleagues and the public about opioid addiction and recovery, and how to mitigate the loss of life through various measures, including treatment and counseling.
Touchberry chairs the task force’s Public Safety Sub-Committee and has been a strong advocate for law enforcement agencies providing widespread use of Narcan and appropriate training. Narcan is used as an emergency antidote in opioid overdoses to restart the respiratory system. Touchberry also provides data that drives many of the task force’s efforts.
Aulisio chairs the Healthcare Sub-Committee and has been instrumental in launching a protocol at all Cleveland Clinic Martin Health emergency rooms, involving Certified Peer Specialists – people with “lived experience” in addiction and recovery – who meet with overdose victims and present them with opportunities for treatment.
The task force, which was established in 2017 and meets monthly at New Horizons of the Treasure Coast and Okeechobee is led by Deborah Dreher, RN, DNP, Chief Clinical Officer at New Horizons.
Over the past two years, opioid-related deaths have decreased in the four-county area due to the combined efforts of the task force and other partner entities.