SEEDS
of Hope
Agency Newsletter – Spring 2023
Saving Lives through Collaboration, OhioGuidestone and EMS Offer a Path to Recovery With her candy apple red hair, colorful clothes, and radiant smile, Erin Gillest is a sharp contrast to the uniformed police lieutenant and fire captain who meet with her weekly at the Strongsville Police Station. The trio meets before they head out to visit homes where in many cases someone is clearly there but won’t answer the door. What the person behind the door might not realize is that Erin and her team are there to offer help, because 72 or so hours earlier EMS revived that person or a loved one after a drug overdose. Erin is part of a Quick Response Team (QRT), a unit whose sole mission is to prevent another overdose by offering recovery through substance use disorder (SUD) services, and counseling resources for the family. Erin is an OhioGuidestone behavioral health specialist and a substance use survivor. She has been substance-free for 8 years and manages the recovery component of QRT. She jokes that her bright red hair is her way of letting people know she is not there to judge or to get anyone in trouble.
“We have to remove the fear and stigma over addiction if we really want to address the issue.” Gillest agrees and adds, “Nobody wakes up and chooses to have substance use disorder. There are other components to consider. Maybe there’s an underlying mental health issue.” QRT isn’t limited to just drug overdoses, alcohol use can lead to similar problems. But drug overdoses have become more likely with the addition of synthetic drugs like Fentanyl.
“I’ve been the one in the back of a police car, I know what addiction feels like,” Erin said. “I also know the hell I put my family and friends through, and the understandable fear anyone would have when your loved one’s behavior brings the police to the door.”
Campbell says, “To bring someone back from a Fentanyl overdose requires more Narcan than an overdose of Heroin alone, and now everything is laced with Fentanyl, something first responders have had to consider when they administer Narcan.”
Strongsville Police Lieutenant Michael Campbell also understands why someone would feel tense and suspicious seeing QRT at their door. “People see the uniform and think I’m here to arrest them. I’m not out to get anyone in trouble.” Campbell says. “I would rather they go into recovery instead of prison or worse—another overdose.”
Worse is the presence of the drug Carfentanil, a synthetic opioid 100 times more potent than Fentanyl, where the tiniest bit is deadly and puts first responders at risk just by coming in contact with it.
Since Campbell created the QRT in Strongsville, overdose numbers are down steadily each year, from 48 in 2018 to 14 in 2022. Thirty-eight of those overdose survivors have found their way into recovery through QRT, and another 29 people sought recovery through the Safe Passages Program, where Campbell says any resident can come to the Strongsville Police Department and ask for help. He says,
“Consider the size of a dime, heads-up. A lethal dose of heroin will cover the dime, a lethal dose of Fentanyl is about the size of the ear on the figure on the dime, and more frightening the drug Carfentanil is so dangerous a lethal dose is as small as one of the numbers on the dime,” says Campbell.
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