Total Overdose Theme

[Sandi Loisel]

TheCDC Injury Center prioritizes funding for the prevention of adverse childhood experiences (ACEs), overdose, and suicide. This page shows how funds were appropriated in the state of Montana in FY22.

The Montana Overdose Data to Action Program enhanced overdose surveillance efforts by developing innovative search syndromes in Biospatial that detect spikes in overdoses across the state. This allows first responders in nearby jurisdictions to ensure they have adequate supplies of naloxone to reduce overdose fatalities in identified geographic locations.

Montana designed and launched an opioid anti-stigma campaign for American Indian and Alaskan Native populations who are disproportionally affected by the opioid crisis. Six focus groups of individuals representing tribal interests provided feedback on the campaign to identify meaningful language, concepts, and themes for the campaign prior to launch.

I want to say a special welcome and thank you to Mayor Frank Cain and his wife, Mary Jane, who have attended almost every one of my State of the City addresses. Mayor Cain, you have been a great advisor, and your long-standing commitment to this community and your family is an inspiration.

And Mayor Peter Clavelle, it is great to have you and Betsy back in Burlington full-time. Earlier today at the COTS Daystation ribbon-cutting, I used the scissors you gave me five years ago, and I expect to use them more in the future because of the campaign you co-chaired for our downtown redevelopment. The fact that you served this City for longer than any other mayor speaks volumes about your commitment to Burlington, and you honor us by being here tonight.

General Steven Cray, thank you for joining us here tonight on behalf of the men and women of the Vermont National Guard, many of whom deployed this year. Thank you for your service, and for representing so well all the women and men under your command.

Now, I would like to ask the entire talented and committed Department Director team to rise. I am very grateful that I get to go to work every day with such a talented and enjoyable team. Thank you for your service and unwavering commitment to Burlington!

I am excited to begin another year of work in this room with all of you, and I appreciate the opportunity to speak with you tonight about the importance of our local work at a time of troubling federal retreat, the vision of Burlington that we are advancing toward, and specific goals for the year ahead.

Salah began life in Sudan, moved to Libya for his safety when he was very young, and then was forced to flee again when war began. He spent three years in terrible conditions in an Egyptian camp before being admitted to the US as a refugee and arriving in Burlington three and a half years ago with no family and no English. Now, Salah is fluent, works at Revision Eyewear, and has created a wonderful home in the Old North End.

However, that trend has now begun to change. Together this Council, the people of Burlington, and this Administration are reclaiming the vision of Burlington as a vibrant, innovative, inclusive, affordable, sustainable, and growing City. After five years of work together, our municipal finances are better than they have been in many years and still improving; we are seeing major new investments in downtown homes and our innovative economy; we are moving rapidly to dramatically improve our public infrastructure and public spaces; we are showing the country and the world how small cities can be a major force for addressing climate change and reengineering American policing; and our commitment to protecting the most vulnerable is more robust than ever. The State of the City is strong and advancing toward an even brighter, increasingly dynamic, and more just future.

In the year ahead, we will work to advance five major areas across the City: improving the character and quality of our public spaces; increasing investment in our roads and sidewalks; expanding alternative transportation options; reducing our environmental footprint; and making critical public safety enhancements. Tonight, I will address our plans in each of these areas.

The public spaces where we gather for recreation and to advocate for important causes define us as a community. Our recent era of parks renewal and expansion will continue in 2017. When it finally stops snowing, we will open a new park at the northern end of the Urban Reserve, and Burlingtonians will enjoy the spectacular new alignment of the rebuilt bike path. This summer, we plan to break ground on another new and unique lakefront park on the west side of the Water Plant, and continue the historic rebuilding of our bike path to the north.

In addition to our parks, our streets and sidewalks are also incredibly important places that host much of our public life. In the season ahead, we will make unprecedented investments in this core public infrastructure. Instead of repaving our normal two-and-a-half miles of roads, we will more than double that amount. Instead of our usual mile of sidewalk rebuilding, our goal this summer is to triple that amount.

Also, in 2017, we will finish the creation of our Great Street standards that will guide work in the public right of way for decades, and prepare for the historic reconnection of St. Paul and Pine streets through the Burlington Town Center, as well as the 2018 rebuilding of lower St. Paul Street, where we have seen so much new investment in recent years.

This new code is an important part of fixing the broken housing market that is failing to serve so many, but we will not simply leave it to the market to ensure that Burlington is affordable to all. In the year ahead, we will continue to build upon our long Burlington tradition of housing the most vulnerable.

I want to applaud the innovative and impactful work done by our public safety leaders, Chief Steven Locke and Chief Brandon del Pozo, as new chiefs over the last year. Over the next year, we must continue to make new investments in and update our public safety efforts, with a continued focus on work that addresses racial disparities and the opioid crisis.

The increased number of foot and bike patrols last spring and summer had a huge, positive impact. As of yesterday, with the change in the seasons, we have resumed these heightened patrols, but our existing resources constrain us. We need more officers to fully implement the policing the people of Burlington want and deserve. For years we have asked our officers to do more and more as they have responded to the dual crises of an opioid epidemic and a failing mental health system. They have performed impressively, but it is time to get them the help they deserve.

First, I want to remind Burlingtonians that the total municipal tax rate has actually decreased for each of the last two years, and assure voters that again, for the fifth time in my six budget years, we will not be requesting a tax increase in FY18.

In the weeks ahead, you will hear more about new assessment partnerships, new ways of ensuring that those struggling with addiction get help when they are brought to the emergency room, and new protocols for pretrial treatment referrals. After 18 months of focused work with our treatment providers, the waiting list and waiting times at our Chittenden County Treatment Hub have dropped substantially, and there is reason to hope that when the new St. Albans Treatment Hub opens at the end of next month, we will finally have medically assisted treatment without delay.

Further, we need to remember that getting a person struggling with addiction into medically assisted treatment is only an early step in opioid recovery. This means that thousands of people in and near Burlington will need help for years to come to recover from this terrible crisis.

We are finally starting to understand the full dimensions of this tragedy because of the bravery of those who have stepped forward to share their stories. I want to welcome here tonight three brave women who have helped me to better understand this crisis over the last year.

Joyce Cameron came to a CommunityStat meeting and told the heart-wrenching story of how her son Will, a Charlotte resident, an athlete, and a recent UVM grad, suffered a fatal overdose after being over-prescribed painkillers by family doctors for his chronic pain related to athletic injuries.

A defining characteristic about Burlingtonians is that we show up. We do things together. We are a strong community. In the year ahead, the City will act by continuing to invest in our public spaces, our public safety, and expanded opportunity to ensure that this beautiful City continues to be a wonderful community for all.

Completing our ambitious agenda will be challenging, however, this is what we do in Burlington. We have a long history of municipal activism that has resulted in us punching far above the weight class of a small city of 42,000 people.

3a8082e126