PUBLIC FORUM: PUTNAM COUNTY PANEL DISCUSSION ON CARMEL HAMLET'S HEROIN EPIDEMIC

Fire Safety Advisory Board 14 15 OPEN-FORUM PARTICIPATION BEGINS 43 16 ---oOo--- 17 18 19 20 21 22 23 24 25 1 SENATOR BALL: Okay, ready; we'll start. 2 Do you mind if we start with the pledge of 3 allegiance? 4 (All present recite, as follows:) 5 "I pledge allegiance to the flag of the 6 United States of America and to the republic for 7 which it stands, one nation under God, indivisible, 8 with liberty and justice for all." 9 SENATOR BALL: Thank you. 10 Okay, well, I want to thank everybody for 11 coming today. 12 I certainly want to thank Paladin for hosting 13 us. 14 And, they've asked me to point out the two 15 exits, over to the left and over to the right. 16 But I want to thank them for hosting us once 17 again. 18 You know, we did a Homeland Security -- the 19 second Homeland Security roundtable with a group of 20 law-enforcement officials. 21 And about a year ago, when we did the first 22 summit on homeland security, I mean, the issues were 23 very focused on terrorism, specifically. 24 And it's amazing how, in one year, how the 25 conversation of that roundtable completely shifted 1 to heroin, opiate abuse, and addiction, and its 2 impact in our communities; and we're talking about 3 suburban communities, rural communities, urban 4 communities. 5 So, I want to thank Senator Boyle who came 6 all the way from Long Island. 7 And that's a hell of a trip. I hate that 8 trip. 9 [Laughter.] 10 SENATOR BALL: So, thank you. 11 [Applause.] 12 SENATOR BALL: Welcome to Putnam County. 13 Next time you can wear jeans, I promise. 14 And, Senator Carlucci, also a very good 15 friend and colleague, who came all the way, I'm 16 assuming, from Rockland. 17 SENATOR CARLUCCI: That's right. 18 SENATOR BALL: Right? 19 So thank you very much for both of you being 20 here. 21 [Applause.] 22 SENATOR BALL: I'll just -- I'll be brief, 23 and be seated, like I learned at the United States 24 Air Force academy. And then what we're gonna do is, 25 both of the Senators will speak, and we'll go around 1 the table, have everybody do a very brief 2 introduction. 3 And then what we want to do is, get into a 4 detail- and deliverable-oriented conversation about 5 what we can do as legislators to assist. 6 And I think the three categories are: 7 Prevention, treatment, and law enforcement. 8 Thank God you're here. 9 So, we'll focus on those three categories. 10 And, Senator Boyle and Senator Carlucci have 11 a little bit of experience from previous forums, so 12 we can do that. 13 I think a couple years ago, even, and we've 14 done a very good job as a state, I believe, at 15 cracking down on prescription-drug abuse, but, we've 16 seen the balloon effect. We know how the drug 17 industry works internationally with the balloon 18 effect, and now we've seen it locally. 19 We did a good job in one area, and now we've 20 seen a shift to where, many times, young men, young 21 women, are needlessly dying in our communities. 22 And I think it was easy for certain 23 legislators and suburban communities to say: You 24 know, that drug-addiction thing, that's mostly an 25 inner-city problem. 1 And these are our kids, and it is an 2 epidemic. And we have to do everything that we 3 possibly can to make sure that we come together as a 4 community. 5 And that's exactly why we're here today. 6 So I know that there's no magic bullet, but 7 to the extent that we can help, that's why this 8 Task Force was set up so proactively. 9 So, without further ado, Senator Phil Boyle. 10 SENATOR BOYLE: Thank you, Senator. 11 And I would like to thank Senator Ball for 12 his leadership on fighting this heroin epidemic, and 13 it is a statewide epidemic. 14 I've been to Buffalo, out to Suffolk County 15 where I'm from. 16 And, talk about traveling, I'm leaving here 17 tonight to drive to Plattsburgh for a forum tomorrow 18 morning. 19 But I can tell you that, I'm the Chairman of 20 the Senate Alcohol and Drug Abuse Committee, and in 21 that regard, the Senate leadership asked me to chair 22 this Task Force, along with Vice Chair 23 Senator David Carlucci, who's the Chairman of the 24 Mental Health Committee in the Senate. 25 And, we're holding 14 forums around the 1 state. This is the fifth one. 2 And, we're getting a lot of good insights. 3 Basically, we have to issue a report by 4 June 1st, on ideas for combating this heroin 5 epidemic. 6 We're gonna pass legislation right after 7 that, based on the report. 8 So, with the distinguished panel in the room, 9 and from any ideas we can get from anybody in the 10 room, about what you've experienced -- whether it's 11 in law enforcement, whether it's treatment, whether 12 it's prevention -- if you had to say, "There ought 13 to be a law to help combat this," that's what we're 14 looking for. 15 We're looking forward to a great conversation 16 this evening. 17 And thank you again, Senator Ball. 18 SENATOR BALL: Thank you, Senator Boyle. 19 Senator Carlucci. 20 SENATOR CARLUCCI: Well, thank you so much. 21 I want to thank Senator Ball for putting this 22 together, and thank Senator Boyle for leading the 23 Task Force. 24 This is an extremely important issue, and I'm 25 really just gratified to see so many people in the 1 room tonight. 2 It's a beautiful day, but you're here today 3 to spend some time, to really talk with everyone 4 here about ways that we can tackle this issue. 5 And like was said by my colleagues, we know 6 that it's not gonna be a silver bullet. 7 There's not some magic piece of legislation 8 that we can pass that will drastically change this 9 issue. We know that it's gonna be a combination of 10 issues. 11 It's gonna be law enforcement, educators, 12 leaders in the community, to really come together 13 and tackle this important problem. 14 So, I want to thank everyone here tonight, 15 and look forward to listening to you. 16 SENATOR BALL: I do want to thank, as well, 17 for being here, the Salomone and Christiansen 18 families who are here, and give them some time to 19 speak as well. 20 If you guys want to start off. 21 And thank you for all the good work that 22 you've done in our community. 23 [Applause.] 24 STEVE SALOMONE: Hi, I'm Steve Salomone. 25 Thank you, Senator Boyle, for putting the 1 event on. 2 We founded, with the Christiansens, these 3 four parents started the Drug Crisis In Our 4 Backyard. 5 We lost our sons to drug addiction; to an 6 overdose. And as a result of that, we felt we 7 wanted to come out and do something about it, rather 8 than, you know, just retreat. 9 What we heard, when we started to talk to 10 people, was the crisis was large, and people were 11 embarrassed to talk about it. 12 And what we wanted, our group is about, is to 13 provide a forum for people to come forward and say, 14 "I need help," because people feel that it's a 15 character flaw, but it's not. 16 Addiction is a disease, and it needs to be 17 treated like a disease. 18 So that's primarily what our mission is. 19 I'm not gonna steal the show here, but a 20 couple of comments I would like to make: 21 The drug issue has two components: it's 22 supply and demand. 23 The supply side of it is where law 24 enforcement comes in. And we need to address that, 25 and we need to pass legislation for that. 1 But where we really can have an impact is on 2 the demand side, and that's about changing culture; 3 And that's about getting our young people to not 4 choose to use drugs, because it's not the cool thing 5 to do anymore. 6 And I think that's really where we need to 7 have a strong impact, because once someone is 8 involved in the problem, and it's an opiate, their 9 decision to stop using is not their decision 10 anymore, because now they're forced to continue to 11 use because their brain chemistry and the way they 12 act is different, 'cause they're addicted. 13 So I think we need to think about ways to 14 address the demand side of the problem. 15 And, lastly, what I'd like to say before 16 passing it on: If there's one area that I think we 17 might be able to have some impact with legislation, 18 the health-insurance industry is not addressing this 19 problem. 20 [Applause.] 21 STEVE SALOMONE: People are being turned 22 away. 23 We get calls all the time. People need help, 24 and they don't have any money, and they don't know 25 where to go. 1 And we need to get insurance industry to 2 start providing coverage to help people get better. 3 And, that's where we need to go. 4 [Applause.] 5 SENATOR BALL: If I can just follow up on 6 that, too, what I would like your input on: We have 7 introduced a bill, 7071, specific on the insurance 8 industry, and some of the issues where we see that 9 they're really not providing the safety net that are 10 necessary to deal with the issues. 11 So, if you can review that, and everybody 12 else here. 13 I don't know if you have that in the packet, 14 or not, but if you want a copy, take a look at it, 15 and let me know. 16 Thank you. 17 SUSAN SALOMONE: Hi, I'm Susan Salomone, and 18 thanks so much for having this roundtable. 19 It's so necessary. 20 We're -- we're five people that lost our 21 loved one. 22 The Christiansens lost their son Eric [ph.]. 23 We lost our son Justin [ph.]. 24 But there are many people that have lost 25 their children. 1 We're just two couples. 2 I'm sure there are other people in this room 3 that have lost their children or lost a loved one. 4 And our mission really is to make this 5 something that people are not afraid to talk about. 6 To destigmatize this problem, this disease, 7 so that people are not afraid to talk to someone 8 about it. 9 That I -- I feel that if we can do that, then 10 more and more people will come out, and then the 11 legislators have to listen to us, and then the 12 health companies and the insurance companies have to 13 listen to them. 14 So I think it's, like, a snowball rolling 15 downhill, but the first part of it is coming out, 16 and doing this. 17 And when our sons died, nobody was talking 18 about it. And now they're starting to talk about 19 it, two years later. 20 So, I think we're make something headway. 21 Thank you. 22 SENATOR BALL: Thank you. 23 [Applause.] 24 CAROL CHRISTIANSEN: Hi, I'm 25 Carol Christiansen. 1 I want to thank the Senators for having this. 2 Thank you very much. 3 I'm co-founder with the Salomones, and my 4 husband and my daughter Karina, Drug Crisis In Our 5 Backyard. 6 Besides the awareness, what I would like to 7 bring out is the focus on the doctors that prescribe 8 this. 9 You know, my son went for back pain, and a 10 year and a half later he died; he OD'd from opiates. 11 So, how does that happen? 12 You know, he was a New York City detective, 13 and this happened to him. 14 So if it could happen to him, it could happen 15 to anybody. 16 And that's our focus, also, is the doctors, 17 you know, what's their responsibility in this? 18 Thank you. 19 [Applause.] 20 KARINA CHRISTIANSEN: Hi, my name is 21 Katrina Christiansen. 22 Eric was my older brother. 23 I am also a doctoral student in public 24 health, so I'm gonna bring out some public-health 25 information tonight so we have some context for the 1 discussion. 2 There are 12 billion people in America using 3 pain killers, non-medically. 4 "12 billion people, non-medically." 5 A hundred people die every day from an 6 overdose. 7 In 2008, there were 36,000 deaths, and most 8 of those deaths, those overdose deaths, were from 9 prescription drugs, the majority of which, of 10 course, are pain killers. 11 We have an idea of drug dealers or drug use 12 as a kind of shadowy organization, a shadowy 13 activity, but less than 5 percent of the pain 14 killers that people use or abuse come from drug 15 dealers or strangers. 16 The vast, vast majority of the pain killers 17 that people are using, abusing, and dying from come 18 from friends, relatives, and legitimate 19 prescriptions. 20 It is overwhelmingly an issue of diversion 21 from legitimate prescriptions, which, to echo my 22 mother's point and Steve's point, is why we have to 23 deal with the vast quantities of opioid analgesics 24 that are being distributed to patients without, 25 often, their knowing, and certainly without people 1 understanding, the risks associated with taking. 2 The doctors aren't trained on the risks 3 associated with opioids; and, so, patients certainly 4 aren't aware of the risks. 5 One last fact: We've had a four-hundredfold 6 increase in the sale of opioid pain killers in the 7 last 15 years, and so my question is: 8 Are we in four times more pain? 9 Are we four times better off? 10 Do we have -- are we four times less disabled 11 now that we have four times the increase in 12 prescription pain-killer use? 13 Chronic pain is real, and people deserve to 14 get relief, but the pain killers that people are 15 taking are, by and large, inappropriate. 16 And, so, I am really excited about tonight, 17 and about all the people here. 18 And I'm very thankful to the Senators, 19 because it needs to be culture, it needs to be 20 policy, it needs to be law enforcement. It's a 21 multi-pronged effort. 22 So, thank you. 23 [Applause.] 24 SENATOR BALL: We were just joined, I saw: 25 Superintendent Manko. 1 Councilman Terrence Murphy; 2 As well as, Hugh Fox, who chairs my 3 Public Safety Advisory Council, and is with 4 Westchester County, who's gonna be joining us up 5 here. 6 So, I -- just-- to follow up on the 7 deliverables, there are two things that came out 8 just from that: 9 Number one is, the insurance-coverage issue; 10 Number two, docs, you know, prescribing 11 opiates, and how to deal with that. 12 So we're keeping track, and we'll continue to 13 follow up. 14 Can we go to the right, and around the room 15 now, would that be okay, and just introduce 16 yourself? 17 The Pope of Putnam County, right, 18 Peter Convery. 19 UNDERSHERIFF PETER CONVERY: Good evening. 20 I'm Undersheriff Peter Convery, representing 21 Sheriff Don Smith who will be en route. 22 And I just want to thank all of our 23 law-enforcement partners here. 24 And it is a crisis. Law enforcement 25 addressed that. 1 And Putnam County Sheriff's Office, this past 2 week, every deputy sheriff investigator's been 3 trained in Narcan. 4 So we're prepared right now. 5 We're making arrangements to purchase the 6 Narcan and have it issued to our deputies. 7 Now, that's one case that we're looking on 8 the law-enforcement side. 9 But what you're talking about, it's an issue. 10 Putnam County Jail is the mental-health 11 hospital of Putnam County. 12 If you have a crisis, you're better off if 13 somebody in your family gets arrested, because if 14 they come through our jail, they're gonna get help. 15 I think what you're finding out here, you're 16 not getting that in the hospital because the 17 insurance companies aren't working with it. 18 And the other aspect, we're product -- the 19 product that we have with heroin, we have the good 20 doctor here from Albany Medical who's gonna tell 21 you, we've been very vigilant on the barbiturates 22 prosecution. 23 Right now, Oxycontin is very hard to get. 24 It's very, very expensive. 25 We have Prescription Drug-Back days. 1 We have one this Saturday at Putnam Hospital, 2 where people cleaning out their medicine cabinets, 3 they're turning in. People are cognizant of that. 4 But what is done now, heroin is the drug of 5 choice. It's very inexpensive, and for what reason, 6 they've turned to heroin. And it's an epidemic. 7 It's in Washington County. It's throughout 8 the state of New York. 9 So, we really have to come together, 10 everyone, and put pressure on, and find out why 11 middle-class people are shooting heroin. 12 And on the law-enforcement side, we're gonna 13 continue to stay vigilant. We're making arrests, 14 we're following up every day, but the community has 15 to help. 16 And I think that's something that's -- I have 17 to thank you, Senator, tonight, to bring us all 18 together for this. 19 [Applause.] 20 DR. MICHAEL DAILY: Senator, thanks for 21 allowing me to come down and join you here today. 22 My name's Michael Daily. I'm an emergency 23 physician up in Albany. 24 I have a lot of paper in front of me that 25 I have put a lot of lines through, and I'm not going 1 read, I promise. 2 But, I think that -- 3 [Applause.] 4 [Laughter.] 5 DR. MICHAEL DAILY: I think it's important to 6 recognize all of these prongs, because this is a 7 problem that goes across all of society right now, 8 and hits us in the emergency department, both coming 9 and going. 10 Very frequently, physicians are the sources 11 of these original prescriptions, as the 12 Christiansens said so eloquently. 13 We need to watch our prescribing practices 14 and consider how that should be done safely, 15 because, really, these medicines are good medicines 16 if used well and used prudently. 17 SENATOR BALL: Are there guidelines for the 18 doctors that they have to abide by? 19 DR. MICHAEL DAILY: There are. 20 The I-STOP program provides some guidelines. 21 But among the things that we're using now, 22 and training our residents in doing, for example, 23 is, write for 11 pills, write for 21 pills; write 24 for something that's a reasonable small amount of 25 medicine. 1 And if you think someone is going to need a 2 lot of medicine for a longer period of time, give 3 them a refill of a smaller amount, and have them go 4 and get that refill when they make the choice. 5 I was at a law-enforcement conference, 6 talking about the opioid problem. And a very 7 high-ranking law-enforcement official stood up and 8 said: 9 "I'm a cop. I got shoulder surgery. My 10 doctor knew it was potentially gonna hurt me, and 11 wrote me for 75 Percocet. I took one. I didn't 12 like the way made me feel. I left it in my medicine 13 cabinet. 14 "My wife's a cop. She had knee surgery. She 15 took one of the 75 Percocet that her doctor 16 prescribed to her, and left the rest in her medicine 17 cabinet. 18 "We've got 148 Percocet in our medicine 19 cabinet right now, and we have teenagers in the 20 house. We may be cops, but we're not exempt from 21 this disaster." 22 I'd like to point out, up in our area, there 23 is only one constant take-back zone, which is the 24 lobby of the Troop G Headquarters in Colonie, 25 New York. 1 That's the only place where, every day, you 2 could drop off your meds. 3 Among the things that we need to do, is come 4 up with a good way for people to give back the drugs 5 they don't want before they get diverted into the 6 hands of our children. 7 The idea of Narcan programs is profoundly 8 important. 9 Law enforcement is one location. 10 They can be very, very usefully implemented. 11 We need to watch this, and make sure that 12 these programs are successful as possible. 13 And we need to continue altering our 14 prescribing practices, to make sure that we are 15 contributing to good health care without 16 contributing to additional problems. 17 SENATOR BOYLE: Thank you, Doc. 18 DR. MICHAEL DAILY: Thank you. 19 SENATOR BALL: Thank you. 20 [Applause.] 21 BILL MATTHEWS: Hello, I'm Bill Matthews. 22 I am a physician assistant with the Harm Reduction 23 Coalition in New York City. 24 We work with the New York State Department of 25 Health to promote their opioid overdose-prevention 1 program. 2 What that is, is that it's a way of putting 3 the same drug that's carried by ambulances, when 4 they respond to an overdose, that same drug called 5 "naloxone," or known by its old brand name, 6 "Narcan," can be given out in a blue bag, like this, 7 to anyone who might be around when an opioid 8 overdose occurs. 9 And you can spray this medicine up someone's 10 nose, and save their life in minutes. 11 Too often, the ambulance doesn't get there 12 fast enough, and there are many cases in which the 13 ambulance's never called at all, because of fear of 14 the police coming, and all the circumstances around 15 that. 16 I'm gonna be talking to you more later, a 17 little bit longer, demonstrating some of this. 18 And then, when this event is over, I'm going 19 to do a short training, though it won't be as short 20 as I wish because so many of you are here, that, to 21 hand out these kits, so if anyone who wants to have 22 a kit can walk out of here with one. 23 We have 100 kits with us today. 24 SENATOR BALL: Thank you. 25 So, guys, this is what we're gonna do, if we 1 can -- because -- limit the applause, unless I'm 2 speaking, and then feel free to applaud, so we can 3 we can get around the room. 4 [Laughter.] 5 SENATOR BALL: I wasn't kidding there, it 6 wasn't a joke. Mr. Piazza can tell you that. 7 No, I was kidding. 8 But, if we can get around the room quick, 9 just say who you are and where you're from, and then 10 we'll get into a good conversation; because, 11 otherwise, we're gonna be here all night. And I'm 12 not gonna -- you know, we gotta get down to the 13 dirty details. 14 Okay? 15 Okay, who you are and where you're from. 16 AMY SUCICH: Amy Sucich, and I'm the 17 assistant clinical director at 18 St. Christopher's Inn. 19 FRANK PELLIGRINO: How you doing? 20 I'm Frank Pelligrino. I'm a social worker 21 and substance-abuse counselor at 22 St. Christopher's Inn. 23 JOE DONAT: Hi, I'm Joe Donat, 24 Deputy District Director for 25 Congressman Sean Patrick Maloney. 1 GINNY NACERINO: Good evening. I'm 2 Ginny Nacerino, Putnam County Legislator, 3 District 4. 4 DR. MICHAEL NESHEIWAT: Michael Nesheiwat, 5 private-practice physician, Chief Coroner of the 6 County, and medical director of the Putnam County 7 Correctional Facility. 8 SENATOR BALL: Also has the crazy 9 responsibility of being my personal physician, so... 10 [Laughter.] 11 CARL ALBANO: I'm Carl Albano. I'm the 12 Chairman of the Putnam County Legislature. 13 Senators, thank you for this much-needed 14 forum. 15 I just would like to make one comment. I may 16 not stay the whole meeting. 17 To me, if you had to pass legislation, 18 I would actually limit or prohibit prescriptions to 19 children under a certain age. 20 They've all survived in the past. 21 You may pick an age of 21, 22, whatever it 22 may be. 23 The world has survived without this in the 24 past. 25 There's Motrin, there's other things; they'll 1 move on. 2 That would be a clear way to really have a 3 serious effect on the young, and that's who's -- 4 that's where it starts. 5 Thank you. 6 KEVIN WRIGHT: I'm Kevin Wright, the retired 7 district attorney of Putnam County and 8 Mahopac County Legislator. 9 And, I prosecuted my first narcotics case 10 39 years ago, and we're still losing the battle. 11 ANDREW FALK: I'm Andrew Falk. I'm a local 12 political candidate; but more importantly, I'm the 13 father of a 10-year-old and a 6-year-old. 14 And when I left -- when I dropped off my son 15 this morning, Senator, at the bus stop, and he asked 16 if he would see me tonight, I said: No. We have a 17 heroin problem in Putnam County, and I'm gonna go, 18 Senator Ball's having a roundtable. 19 And I asked him: Do you know what heroin is? 20 And he said: Yes. 21 He takes the D.A.R.E. program. 22 And I hate the fact that my son who's turning 23 11 next week, I have to ask him if he knows what 24 heroin is. 25 But, we can't pretend that it's not here, and 1 it is here. 2 And I'm glad everybody -- you know, I would 3 just ask, if I don't say anything else tonight, we 4 have to talk about it, because if we pretend that 5 we're in Putnam County and our kids are good kids, 6 it's gonna overtake us. 7 And thank you for having this forum tonight. 8 SENATOR BALL: Thank you. 9 SHERRY GOVER: Hi. My name is Sherry Gover. 10 I'm from the Dutchess County Department of Community 11 and Family Services. 12 But more importantly, I lost my son to an 13 opiate overdose. And I -- he had had a rotor cuff 14 surgery, became addicted to opiates, and died from 15 an overdose five years ago. 16 GINGER DOULOS: My name is Ginger Doulos. 17 I'm a -- from Dutchess County. I'm a 18 substance-abuse counselor, New York State-licensed 19 mental-health counselor. 20 I also facilitate a bereavement group called 21 "GRASP" (Grief Recovery After A Substance Passing). 22 And I also lost a son as a result of heroin 23 addiction. 24 ELAINE PAWLOWSKI: My name's 25 Elaine Pawlowski. I'm from South Salem. 1 I'm here as a parent, and I'm also here as a 2 volunteer for Shatterproof, which is the first 3 national organization that's set up like the 4 American Cancer Society. 5 We are trying to get the information out 6 there as an organization that large, so that the 7 stigma is reduced, and that treatment facilities are 8 held accountable for the treatment that they give to 9 patients; 10 Laws are changed and advocated throughout the 11 United States for 911 laws and naloxone laws; 12 And, also, that physicians and insurance 13 companies do pay for evidence-based treatment. 14 Not old treatment, not AA treatment, that is 15 dated, but treatment that is research-based. 16 So, I do have some materials out there, and 17 I can talk a little bit later. 18 JACK MACK: Hi, my name is Jack Mack. I'm 19 from Croton-On-Hudson. 20 Like Elaine, I lost my son Casey [ph.] to a 21 heroin overdose a year and a half ago. 22 And, someone talked about jail being a -- an 23 alternative for treatment. 24 New York State prison system is the largest 25 drug-treatment provider in the state. 1 I worked at -- in the state prison system for 2 8 years, and it's not a good place for rehab, so 3 don't go that route. 4 Thank you. 5 [Applause.] 6 JOANNE BIAGGI: I'm Joanna Biaggi. I'm a 7 guidance counselor at Brewster Central Schools. 8 SENATOR BALL: Thank you for being here. 9 BOB COHEN: I'm Bob Cohen. I'm a parent from 10 Ossining, and a youth leader in my church. 11 Also, a recovering heroin addict, 26 years. 12 AA saved my life. 13 [Applause.] 14 MEGHAN FIALKOFF: My name is Meghan Fialkoff. 15 I'm the northeast executive director for 16 Foundation For A Drug-Free World. 17 We're the largest nonprofit drug-education 18 program in the world, and we provide a free 19 curriculum to schools and after-school programs. 20 And I'm just gonna show four of the booklets, 21 because I know I have very limited time. 22 We have prescription-drug abuse booklets, 23 heroin booklets, pain killers booklets, and drug 24 booklets. And these are for free. 25 So if any school, you want to have a 1 statewide distribution of any of those booklets or 2 statewide curriculum, that is for free. The schools 3 only have to pay for postage. 4 We can provide free materials tonight. 5 And, we have portfolios for anyone who wants 6 information as well. 7 DAPHNE OLSON: Hi, I'm Daphne Olson. I'm a 8 local. 9 And, I lost a sister to heroin abuse. And a 10 brother -- my brother's family was ruined due to 11 that. 12 And drug-prevention education has been a big 13 part of my life for about the last 45 years, because 14 heroin is not new. 15 My sister was a heroin addict in 1955. 16 So, I work with Meghan. I'm the director for 17 the Hudson Valley. 18 She's my boss. 19 And -- 20 [Laughter.] 21 DAPHNE OLSON: And I believe I've found 22 something that works. 23 DAVID TIDMAN: My name is David Tidman. 24 I work with Meghan Fialkoff, with the 25 Foundation For A Drug Free-World. 1 I'm the main speaker for the schools, 2 YMCAs, and police explorer groups in five-boroughs 3 area, and we give free drug-education presentations 4 and lectures on a daily basis throughout the 5 boroughs area. 6 We have a bit of a change to the 7 "Just Say No" motto, where we changed that word 8 "N-O" to "K-N-O-W." 9 Because we focus on the fact that education, 10 preemptively, is probably the best cure for the 11 problems we're trying to deal with. 12 DANIELLE SULLIVAN: Good evening. 13 My name is Danielle Sullivan. I'm an 14 assistant principal at Brewster High School. 15 LORRAINE BIXLER: I'm Lorraine Bixler, in 16 recovery as well, and in the process of getting 17 certified for treatment -- drug treatment. 18 JOHN REGAN: Hi, everyone. 19 My name is John Regan, from Genesis House 20 Addiction Treatment Center. 21 I work in New Jersey, Pennsylvania, New York, 22 Connecticut, and Delaware. 23 If anyone here is looking for treatment for a 24 loved one, because I work in all the states, a lot 25 of insurance companies are tough, I will find help 1 for one of your loved ones. 2 So, if you do have someone that's in need of 3 help, please see me after the roundtable, and I'll 4 make sure, even if they have no money, I'll find a 5 state-run program somewhere. 6 Thank you. 7 [Applause.] 8 SENATOR BALL: Thank you. 9 When we talk a little bit on the treatment 10 side, I want you to dig into your experiences with 11 dealing with the insurance companies. 12 Okay? 13 JOHN REGAN: Okay. 14 DON WILLIAMS: Senator Ball, thank you for 15 this chance to be here tonight, and distinguished 16 guests, and everybody else. 17 My name is Don Williams. I'm an addict and 18 an alcoholic in recovery, in a program written so 19 simply even I can do it. 20 You know, I spent about 15 years in prison 21 myself before I found a simple way to -- a simple 22 way of life that is all about getting the message 23 out, and I think we talked about it earlier. 24 And I just recently, with Elaine, spoke at my 25 high school right here in Carmel, to the ninth-grade 1 students, to try to get the message out. 2 What my job to do is, to sponsor people that 3 come through this program, on their first day and on 4 their last day. 5 It's a 12-step program that's just the 6 greatest gift in the world that I've ever received. 7 I had a 45-year drug addiction, and I lost my 8 only brother in 1977 to opioids. 9 You know, I think prevention starts with our 10 young. 11 You know, it's in Carmel High School, so it's 12 probably in the middle schools and grade schools, 13 too. 14 And I just hope I get another chance to speak 15 at another school one day, you know. 16 I also speak at the Putnam County Jail once a 17 month. 18 Since being a prisoner myself, and a convict 19 for most of my life, and I turned over a new leaf 20 seven years ago. And the greatest gift in the world 21 I could give is just to give back what was so freely 22 given to me. 23 Thank you, Senator. 24 SENATOR BALL: Thank you for being here and 25 sharing your experience. 1 [Applause.] 2 DOROTHY PETRIE: Hi, my name is 3 Dorothy Petrie. I'm a nurse. I'm from 4 Upstate New York. 5 And I work for a company, 6 Cadence Pharmaceuticals, that makes a product, a 7 non-opioid pain medication, that allows patients who 8 are having surgery to significantly reduce how much 9 opioids they use during surgery. And in some cases, 10 for recovering addicts. 11 They can go through surgery with no opioids 12 whatsoever, and manage their pain better. 13 CONNIE HUSSEY: Hi, I'm Connie Hussey. 14 And I have a family member who is recovering 15 from an opioid addiction, that also started with 16 back pain. 17 We moved to Putnam County, thinking that this 18 wouldn't happen. 19 It didn't happen in lower Westchester. It 20 didn't happen in the city. 21 It happened right here in the sleepy little 22 town. 23 MIKE PIAZZA: I'm Mike Piazza. I'm 24 Commissioner of Putnam County departments of Mental 25 Health, Social Services, and the Youth Bureau. 1 NORA TOVITSKI [ph.]: Hi, everybody. 2 My name is Nora Tavitski [ph.]. I'm a social 3 worker -- 4 Can you hear me okay? 5 Doesn't sound like it's going over. 6 Okay. 7 -- the director of community services for 8 Arms Acres, right up the road, which is inpatient 9 and outpatient services for adolescents and adults. 10 I've been in the field for over 25 years. 11 I have to say, I could talk about any topic 12 all day and all night with you, but the one that's 13 on my mind is -- right now is about the insurance 14 companies. 15 Day in and day out, we are fighting with 16 insurance companies, not just to get people in 17 treatment, but to keep these people alive: our loved 18 ones and our families and our friends. 19 And I can't tell you how upsetting it is that 20 they get refused. 21 They're going against the parity laws, and 22 our folks have to sit in waiting rooms for three, 23 four, or five, six hours, waiting for an answer, and 24 often that answer is no. 25 We need your help. 1 I'm here to help. 2 SENATOR BALL: What we're going to do is, if 3 everybody doesn't mind, is we're gonna jump right 4 into that conversation first, and then we'll go to 5 the others. 6 KRISTIN McCONNELL: Good evening. 7 I'm Kristin McConnell. I'm the director of 8 the National Council on Alcoholism and Drug 9 Dependence of Putnam County. 10 We're a licensed prevention provider from the 11 New York State Office of Alcoholism and Substance 12 Abuse Services. 13 ALONZO WEST: Good evening. 14 I'm Alonzo West, president of Westchester 15 Corrections Officers' Benevolent Association. And, 16 also, an executive board member of Lexington Center 17 For Recovery. 18 KEITH FENNELLY: Chief Keith Fennelly, 19 retired, Westchester County Career Fire Chiefs 20 Association. 21 BUCK HELLER: Hi, I'm Buck Heller, 22 executive vice president of Peers Influence Peers 23 Partnership. 24 And this year we've produced a documentary, 25 which we would hope everyone can see. 1 STEPHEN VELICHKO: Hello, my name is 2 Stephen Velichko. I'm the vice president with 3 Peers Partnership. 4 And I had the opportunity to conduct a lot of 5 these interviews in our documentary this year, and 6 have seen a lot of the destruction that heroin has 7 caused, not only to those who are addicted, but to 8 their loved ones, as well. 9 FRANK REALE: Good evening, everybody. 10 My name is Frank Reale, and I'm the president 11 of Peers Influence Peers Partnership. 12 I would like thank Senator Ball for arranging 13 for the opportunity for our sharing our documentary 14 film, "Chasing It," with all the school districts in 15 the State Senate District 40. 16 So, appreciate that, Senator Ball. 17 SENATOR BALL: Thank you. 18 And we will continue to follow up, using 19 funding from the State, to the extent possible, to 20 the school districts that are interested, to get 21 that documentary out. 22 For the people that have not seen that 23 documentary, and I say that to my colleagues as 24 well, you should take a moment to take a look at it. 25 It's extremely compelling, and I think it would be 1 extremely effective to get this into our schools. 2 So, if I'm in Senate 40, I'm here to help, 3 just let me know, to the superintendents and 4 principals and guidance counselors that are here 5 today. 6 FRAN McCARTHY: I'm Fran McCarthy. I'm an 7 EMT volunteer with the Carmel Volunteer Ambulance 8 Corps, and the Lake Carmel Fire Department. And, 9 I'm a retired nurse from Putnam Hospital Center. 10 MAUREEN GUIDO: Maureen Guido, and I am a 11 35-year member of Carmel Volunteer Ambulance Corps. 12 I'm an EMT. 13 And, this is a great, great opportunity to 14 get us all together and fight this problem. 15 Thank you. 16 MIKE NATTLE [ph.]: Good evening. I'm 17 Mike Nattle [ph.], with the Town of [unintelligible] 18 Police Department. I'm a detective sergeant with 19 them. 20 CAPTAIN ROBERT WILLIS: I'm Captain 21 Robert Willis from the New York State Police, 22 Troop K. 23 Thank you, Senator Ball, for inviting us here 24 this evening. 25 1 ROBERT TENDY: Robert Tendy. I'm the 2 supervisor of the Town of Putnam Valley. 3 SAM OLIVERIO: Sam Oliverio, Putnam County 4 Legislator, District Number 2. 5 Also, the chairman of the health committee in 6 Putnam County, and an assistant principal at 7 Putnam Valley High School. 8 TOM MANKO: Tom Manko, Superintendent, 9 Mahopac Central School. 10 Senator Ball, continue to do the work that 11 you're doing, 'cause we need this kind of exposure, 12 and bring all of our resources together. 13 Thank you. 14 SENATOR BALL: Thank you, sir. 15 Once, again, a pleasure to work with you. 16 SENATOR BALL: Just, very quickly, we have 17 Councilman Terrence Murphy. 18 If you want to [unintelligible], and then 19 Hugh Fox. 20 TERRENCE MURPHY: Sure. 21 First off, Terrence Murphy, 22 Dr. Terrace Murphy. I'm a councilman in the town 23 of Yorktown. 24 Very briefly, I refused to pass our budget in 25 the town of Yorktown unless we developed a narcotics 1 unit to address this serious issue in northern 2 Westchester, and Putnam County right here. 3 And it's about time we took our heads out of 4 sand and address this head-on, and we'll continue to 5 do it. 6 And thank you, Senator Ball, for holding it. 7 [Applause.] 8 HUGH FOX: Hugh Fox, former firefighter in 9 the city of Yonkers for 32 years. 10 I chair the Senator's Public Safety and 11 Fire Safety Advisory Board. 12 We've had a roundtable before on many issues 13 with the Senator. 14 But, it's amazing to look around this room 15 and see everybody, that this isn't one segment or 16 one area of a problem, but it affects all of us; all 17 of us, and many more. 18 So, Senator, it's a -- it's so damned good 19 that you put this together, because we need this. 20 SENATOR BALL: Thank you. 21 [Applause.] 22 SENATOR BOYLE: So what we'll do now, and 23 just for those of you who -- I see many important 24 officials and family members in the audience. 25 Just because you're in the audience doesn't 1 mean you're off the hook. 2 Please engage in this conversation, and we'll 3 moderate it to the extent that we possibly can. 4 I don't think I have to say this at this 5 event, but I always say it: All of our 6 conversations are based upon mutual respect. 7 That's it. 8 We don't fight, we don't bicker, we don't 9 overtalk each other. Mutual respect; one person 10 talks at a time. 11 If you want to yell at anybody, yell at me. 12 That's what I'm here for. 13 [Laughter.] 14 SENATOR BOYLE: But, I don't think I have to 15 say it in this crowd, but let me put that out there. 16 We have folks, Amy and Frank, who are going 17 to speak specifically on the insurance issue. 18 Then we'll bring that up to anybody else 19 who's interested in talking about that. 20 And they're with St. Christopher's Inn in 21 Garrison, New York. 22 Amy. 23 AMY SUCICH: Thank you. 24 Yeah, uh, all clinicians are spending a lot 25 of time, trying to get visits for our young opiate 1 addicts, and, those visits are being denied. 2 If they're granted visits, they're certainly 3 not at a level that's therapeutically beneficial. 4 So they get a couple of days, three days, and 5 then they have to reauthorize the visits. 6 Inordinates amounts of time. 7 And, you know, these young people get, maybe, 8 a total of 12 visits, you know, to deal with this 9 problem. 10 We're lucky. We have the ability to treat 11 them five days a week, even though they're only 12 supposed -- we get, you know, reimbursed for 13 three days a week, we treat them for five days a 14 week because of the nature of our program. 15 The men live in our shelter, and they attend 16 treatment in our day rehab program. 17 So, you know, we have the ability to do that. 18 However, this problem is going to get a lot 19 worse. 20 Next year, all of Medicaid will be managed 21 care, and, with the managed care, this is gonna be 22 the same kind of difficulty. 23 Those visits are gonna be doled out very, 24 very skimpily. 25 And, you know, we're not sure what we're 1 gonna be able to do with that. 2 Our reimbursement rates are dropping 3 dramatically. We've lost -- 13 percent, our 4 reimbursement rates have gone down over the last 5 4 years. That money continues to drop. 6 If, you know, reimbursement rates go down, it 7 affects our budget, which affects the programs we 8 could offer the people who come to us. 9 We have 174 men living with us. 10 We have tried to put together a crisis 11 respite program, a crisis respite center. 12 We were told to put together this proposal, 13 and we did that. 14 The proposal, however, was denied by the 15 Office of Mental Health. They want to use that 16 money in other ways. 17 We have, you know, parents and family members 18 calling us daily. 19 I get these phone calls, my boss gets these 20 phone calls, Nora gets these phone calls: People 21 crying; they don't know what to do with their 22 children. 23 And when the insurance is being denied, we 24 want to provide a short-time safe place for them to 25 be off the street. 1 We have a space available, we have a 2 proposal, and we can't get the funding to put, you 3 know, the proposal intact. 4 So, you know, this is of crisis proportion. 5 I know there have been 78 deaths in 6 Lower Hudson Valley last year. 7 There were six just in Putnam in the past 8 year, I'm being told. 9 And, you know, rates are dropping, and 10 insurance are cutting visits. 11 SENATOR BALL: So can you -- can you step me 12 through -- say I have a son or a daughter, find out 13 that they're addicted, and -- you know, and they're 14 in a really tough spot. 15 Can you step me through how they would find 16 their way towards your -- if I come to your door, 17 what is our battle gonna be to get that kid 18 treatment right now? 19 AMY SUCICH: They have to go into our 20 admissions department, and the first thing that has 21 to happen -- and like I said, we're lucky, we're a 22 shelter. 23 SENATOR BALL: First, can a parent actually 24 force their kid to go? 25 AMY SUCICH: A parent can't force the child 1 to go -- their young adult to go. 2 We're an adult program, so they have to be 3 18. We need to speak to the adult. 4 SENATOR BALL: If you have a kid that's 5 addicted, who's doing heroin, and you want to get 6 him treatment -- 7 AMY SUCICH: Yep. 8 SENATOR BALL: -- short of being dead or 9 going to jail, how do you get him into a facility, 10 right now? 11 AMY SUCICH: You know, you bring -- you -- 12 there has to be a bed, first of all. And we're 13 running at a -- you know, there's waits for beds all 14 the time. And 174 beds, we have waits for beds all 15 the time. We run it a week or two waitlist. 16 So we have, right now, 174 beds and 4 cots 17 out. 18 SENATOR BALL: So a week or two. 19 So your kid, near overdose, whatever it is, 20 you catch them, what do you do in those two weeks? 21 Chain your kid to the -- 22 AMY SUCICH: As I'm saying -- well, that's 23 why we're trying to provide this respite service, 24 with some beds, so kids who are in crisis can come 25 in -- 1 SENATOR BALL: So, but what's the safety net? 2 And I'm not badgering to badger. 3 It's important to understand: So what's the 4 safety net during that two-week period, after you 5 realize that your kid is chronically addicted to 6 heroin and is about to kill himself? 7 AMY SUCICH: Right, and that's why you -- 8 SENATOR BALL: Where's New York State come 9 in? 10 AMY SUCICH: If the kid is about to -- if the 11 kid is about to kill himself, he needs to be in a -- 12 you know, a psych unit. 13 SENATOR BALL: I don't mean kill himself. 14 I don't mean, literally, kill himself by 15 overdosing -- 16 AMY SUCICH: That's exactly why we need 17 respite. We need safe places, to get kids off the 18 street, to get kids out of houses, where there is a 19 safe place where they can be before -- it's not -- 20 SENATOR BALL: You still have to volunteer to 21 do that; right? 22 AMY SUCICH: Excuse -- well, they have to 23 volunteer. 24 We have a lot of kids who we call are our 25 "mom-dated" or "dad-dated," so they're not really 1 voluntary. You know, they come in because they have 2 no place else to go. 3 Mom says you can't live in the house anymore 4 unless you go into treatment, so they'll come into 5 treatment. 6 SENATOR BALL: Yeah. 7 ELAINE PAWLOWSKI: Could you interrupt for a 8 minute? 9 AMY SUCICH: Sure. 10 ELAINE PAWLOWSKI: If you have a good 11 relationship with your child -- 12 SENATOR BALL: Can you speak into the 13 microphone. 14 ELAINE PAWLOWSKI: If you have developed a 15 good relationship with your child, the first thing 16 you should do, is when you go to the hospital, you 17 can sign a medical-waiver form. 18 So even when they're 18, or 17, as a parent, 19 and because your son has signed that form in front 20 of the hospital, or in front of medical staff, or 21 it's been notarized, or whatever, you can have 22 access to all their medical records. You can also 23 work with them through the system. 24 I've done this with my son from day one, when 25 they turn 14 or 15, just because you never know. 1 They may be somewhere else, they may be -- 2 they may have drank something, you just don't know, 3 so someone has to step in. 4 So when you still have a good relationship 5 with your child, get all those papers signed, and 6 keep them signed. 7 AMY SUCICH: Excellent idea. 8 ELAINE PAWLOWSKI: So that when you go to the 9 hospital, you can say: I'm their mother. 10 I understand they're 17, or 18, they don't want to 11 be here. We've worked together. You know, they may 12 be heroin -- on heroin right now so that they're not 13 very livid. 14 And, you have much more power that way. 15 AMY SUCICH: Right. 16 ELAINE PAWLOWSKI: And then they also know -- 17 that the facility knows that the parents and the 18 child are working together. 19 That's like the number one thing that any 20 parent can do. 21 Sorry to interrupt. 22 SENATOR BALL: No, that's good. That's what 23 we need. 24 Nora, you can speak a little bit to the 25 process to actually get an insurance to cover once 1 they come to your door? 2 What do the parents have to do? 3 NORA TOVITSKI [ph.]: Okay, so, somebody 4 wants to -- treatment, they come to Arms Acres. 5 They've -- I've made the phone call. 6 Most insurance companies now -- 7 And I'm gonna add -- ask, anybody who wants 8 to add to this process, who knows this, Amy, 9 anybody, please feel free to do so. 10 They come into Arms Acres. They're waiting 11 in the waiting room. 12 Most insurance companies now are asking for, 13 and require, what's called a "face-to-face." 14 So, Mary or Joe can be sitting in the waiting 15 room, and now they're required a face-to-face, which 16 means they have to meet with the nurse. The nurse 17 does a thorough physical and an interview with the 18 patient. 19 They call the insurance company, they give 20 them the information. 21 The insurance company says: I'll get back to 22 you. 23 So now they have to wait an hour or two or 24 three. They might call back, and they may approve 25 or deny. 1 What they're saying now is: Okay, well, you 2 have -- which is against the law, basically -- you 3 have failed -- you have not failed outpatient. You 4 are -- you can do this on an ambulatory detox level. 5 Or, they'll just outright deny. 6 And then it may go to a doc-to-doc review. 7 And people are waiting, potentially, up to 8 five or six hours, waiting for an answer from the 9 insurance companies. 10 Only -- so it's very hard to tell a family: 11 You know what? We want you, and we see the need for 12 you to be here. 13 But, it's very difficult to tell a parent, or 14 a husband or a wife, or an aunt or uncle, somebody, 15 come packed, but we don't know if you're gonna be 16 able to stay. 17 And I would like to mention that my colleague 18 and good friend Dr. Roe [ph.] from our outpatient 19 department is here. And I would like us to turn to 20 him, for a second. 21 I'm putting him on the spot, but is there 22 anything you would add to that Dr. Roe? 23 Can you grab a microphone, Doctor? 24 DR. ROE [ph.]: It's a great deal to add, 25 but, one of problems is: If we do get somebody 1 admitted, we may get just a few days, where we just 2 begin to scratch the surface, and then the ground is 3 cut out from underneath the treatment system, so 4 that we can't continue to treat patients who need 5 longer-term treatment. 6 And that's one of the things that Arms Acres 7 and St. Christopher's is capable of doing, is 8 providing the length of treatment. 9 People are not gonna get over an opiate 10 addiction in 5 days or 2 weeks, or even 28 days in 11 many cases. 12 So this is the biggest issue with the 13 insurance companies. 14 Even if they give us a paltry few days, they 15 cut the ground out from underneath the treatment 16 systems, and our patients. 17 NORA TOVITSKI [ph.]: The next step with that 18 I would add -- 19 [Applause.] 20 NORA TOVITSKI [ph.]: The next step I would 21 add, is when they do refer someone to an outpatient 22 level, sometimes they have to come two or 23 three times a week. 24 The co-pays are astronomical. The families 25 can't afford the co-pays, and I can't blame them. 1 They're like 30, 40, 50 dollars. 2 I'm working with a family today that wanted 3 to come into treatment, who had a $4,000 deductible. 4 It's unheard of. 5 MIKE PIAZZA: It's just the beginning. 6 NORA TOVITSKI [ph.]: I'd also like to refer 7 also to Mike Piazza, because I know he has a lot to 8 say on this, too. 9 MIKE PIAZZA: Thanks, Nora. 10 Senators, it's very important, too, that you 11 recall, as Amy mentioned: If you are lucky enough 12 to have fee-for-service Medicaid right now, you 13 don't have those kinds of limits and those kinds of 14 difficulties in getting into treatment, and even 15 staying in a little longer. 16 But one of the concerns we have, is when we 17 go through the Medicaid redesign, and go into the 18 managed-care takeover, for our region it will be 19 July 1st, next year, of 2015. 20 These issues that you're hearing about on 21 private and third-party insurance are going to occur 22 in the Medicaid population, as well. 23 And Amy mentioned the crisis respite. 24 Well, we put together this proposal for OMH, 25 which really was trying to put a square peg into a 1 round hole, which is why OMH didn't -- rejected it. 2 They were looking more for an OMH -- an RCE 3 (a Regional Center For Excellence) drawdown of the 4 state psychiatric hospital beds. 5 But one of the advantages -- what we're 6 talking about, what we're working on together, 7 Arms Acres and Putnam Family Community Services, and 8 St. Christopher's Inn, is a proposal that will take 9 advantage of beds, that can -- that will be cheaper 10 than a regular hospital bed, and will still serve 11 the purposes. 12 As many of the parents are here tonight, when 13 someone is ready for treatment, they're ready for 14 treatment. 15 And if you hold them off for a -- five days 16 or two weeks, they will get high during those 17 five day or two weeks. 18 So, we want to be able to get them 19 immediately into a safe place, which is the proposal 20 that St. Christopher's started, and which was 21 really picked up and shared with all of the 22 providers in Putnam County. 23 JAIME McARDLE: My name is Jamie McArdle. 24 I have a 20-year-old addict son. 25 He is currently an addict -- 1 SENATOR BALL: Ma'am, do you mind, just, in 2 the microphone. 3 JAIME McARDLE: I have a 20-year-old son. 4 He is currently an addict. 5 He was turned away at St. Christopher's. 6 He was turned away from Lexington. He was turned 7 away from Arms Acres. 8 Whether he has insurance or doesn't, he's 9 turned away. 10 He is dually diagnosed, so there are not 11 treatment centers for mental health and addiction. 12 My son is now on the street, currently on the 13 street, because I cannot have him in the home with 14 my twin 16-year-old daughters. 15 I don't know where he's staying, I don't even 16 know if he's alive today, but he is in 17 Putnam County, and he's got no place to go. 18 SENATOR BALL: So how do we solve -- I mean, 19 literally, right now, and I -- you know, I ask for 20 the professionals in the room, how do you solve that 21 mom's problem? 22 DR. MICHAEL NESHEIWAT: Senator, if I could 23 just say a few words? 24 SENATOR BALL: Doc. 25 DR. MICHAEL NESHEIWAT: I feel your pain, and 1 I understand where you're coming from, but I do have 2 to say something, and it's called "tough love." 3 We are very fortunate people. We may or we 4 may not be able to take care of our loved ones, and 5 put them in an Arms Acres or in a facility. 6 But, unfortunately, working at the 7 correctional facility, there's a lot of young adults 8 that we love, that don't agree, and will not agree, 9 with the parent, and the parent's frustrated. 10 I've had parents come to my office, crying to 11 me, from, attorneys, doctors, plumbers, lawyers, law 12 enforcement, concerned about their child, and they 13 can't do a thing, just like you. 14 And let me tell you what happens: They are 15 incarcerated. 16 They need to get money to pay for the drugs. 17 They eventually will wind up with law enforcement, 18 and wind up at the jail. 19 Some parents have had their child turned over 20 to law enforcement. That's called "tough love." 21 They're incarcerated, and we put them in a 22 detox program at the Putnam County Correctional 23 Facility. 24 JAIME McARDLE: My son was in Putnam County 25 Jail for three months. I had him arrested on 1 burglary charges. 2 DR. MICHAEL NESHEIWAT: And I understand 3 that, and it's gotta be tough love to do that. 4 And -- 5 JAIME McARDLE: The day he got out, he picked 6 up again. 7 He was put on mental-health medication. And 8 when he was released, he was not given refills, 9 nowhere to go from there. 10 There is no referral system. 11 ELAINE PAWLOWSKI: You're absolutely right, 12 that is a problem. 13 You can check with St. Vincent's. That's a 14 dual-diagnosed. 15 You can check with Four Winds, that's a 16 dual-diagnosed. 17 And Silver Hills is dual-diagnosed. 18 Now -- 19 JAIME McARDLE: St. Vincent's, he was denied. 20 ELAINE PAWLOWSKI: Yeah. 21 Now, when you're -- this is the key crisis 22 here: The criminal justice system is not a 23 hospital. 24 SENATOR BALL: So before we move forward -- 25 ma'am, before we move forward on this: 1 Susie, can you make sure that you get her 2 information? Maybe we follow up with her today, and 3 do everything we can to help her. 4 ELAINE PAWLOWSKI: The criminal justice 5 system -- there is a problem with society. The 6 criminal justice system has to deal with medical 7 issues. 8 These are medical issues that have fallen 9 apart, because the health system in this country 10 does not take care of their mentally ill, and does 11 not take care of those with addiction problems or 12 with substance-use disorder. 13 Now, when someone says that that's good, be 14 tough love, let the criminal justice system deal 15 with it, that's absolutely the wrong way to go. 16 [Applause.] 17 ELAINE PAWLOWSKI: They are not doctors, they 18 are not lawyers. They are there for [inaudible]. 19 [Applause.] 20 ELAINE PAWLOWSKI: We need to change the 21 health system, the insurance system, and how people 22 are treated, so that they are not treated with tough 23 love. They are treated with compassion, and they 24 are treated with care, just as if they had a heart 25 condition or they had cancer. 1 There is no other excuse. 2 [Applause.] 3 SENATOR BALL: Let me just get in here for a 4 second. 5 UNKNOWN SPEAKER: Can I -- 6 SENATOR BALL: No, look, just let me just get 7 in here for a second. 8 I think that this is the -- I've been to, in 9 8 years, probably 600 forums, debates, and public 10 events. 11 And I have watched events, where everybody 12 gets heated, and has a conversation that should be 13 on the Phil Donohue Show, but doesn't go anywhere. 14 Now, we have a mom who has a son, who she 15 doesn't know where he is. 16 And whether it be the correctional facility, 17 or the morgue, I don't know how she sleeps. 18 Now, we can either have a conversation about 19 how to solve that. 20 And if it can't be solved, that's the 21 problem, and then we have to get involved to figure 22 out how to solve it. 23 But to debate back and forth isn't gonna 24 solve a damned thing. 25 And I'm not gonna allow it to happen tonight. 1 So, I want people to speak specifically about 2 how to help moms like that. 3 Does anybody -- okay. 4 CHARLOTTE YOUNG: My name is 5 Charlotte Young -- 6 SENATOR BALL: Please grab the mic. 7 CHARLOTTE YOUNG: Oh, sure. 8 My name is Charlotte Young. 9 I do want to say that I thank the 10 Putnam County Facility for saving my son's life. He 11 even says it. 12 But, they also have to be wanting to get 13 cured. 14 But, also, when they are let go from that 15 facility, yes, parents have to be their backup, and 16 they have to go to meetings, and get a group. 17 My son couldn't get Medicaid, he couldn't get 18 any kind of medical help, when he was addicted. 19 I've gone through hell. 20 It costs the parents. 21 All these parents, financially, are probably 22 stressed out. 23 I am one of the lucky ones so far so far. 24 My son has turned his life around. He is a 25 productive member of society. 1 And, I just wanted to thank the police force, 2 and he even said it, they saved his life. 3 He would have been dead by Christmas. This 4 past Christmas. 5 And that's all I want to say. 6 Jail is not the answer. 7 We do need health insurance for our children. 8 And my son got addicted because he went 9 through cancer treatment, and then he got addicted, 10 and didn't tell me. So -- because there's a shame 11 to it. Okay? 12 And I have a good relationship with my son, 13 and he never would tell me about it, until it was 14 too late. 15 Okay? 16 Thank you. 17 FRANK PELLIGRINO: Excuse me, Senator? 18 Over here. 19 SENATOR BALL: Hey, please. 20 FRANK PELLIGRINO: Again, I'm 21 Frank Pelligrino. I'm a counselor at 22 St. Christopher's Inn. 23 And I really do feel for the woman who has a 24 sick son. 25 And part of the frustration is that sometimes 1 there is nothing that anyone can do if the person 2 themselves doesn't want help. 3 I myself am in recovery. I got sober when 4 I was 21. I've been sober now 10 years, and I had 5 the benefit of, at the time, the Medicaid system 6 would give people access to treatment. 7 And part of the problem is, right now, the 8 opiate epidemic specific, is the highest it's ever 9 been, and there's more cutbacks now from insurance 10 companies, from Medicaid, that are not allowing 11 people to get the treatment they need. 12 I'm on the front lines, and, you know, I have 13 to send in insurance reviews. 14 And when these insurance companies hear, 15 after three days, that, you know, the client needs 16 more treatment, they say: Well, he should be better 17 by now. 18 And so they don't get it. 19 I mean, "90 days" seems to be the magic 20 number. 21 If people can get treatment for 90 days that 22 would be great, but we're struggling to get 23 treatment for 5, 10, 15 days. 24 SENATOR BALL: So what I need, and I think 25 what we need, and I -- is to, specifically, on that, 1 what should we do legislatively? 2 And I -- you know, we just fought a battle on 3 the out-of-network issue. We had surprise medical 4 billing. It's been a hell of a fight. 5 I had a constituent in my district that had a 6 heart attack, and when they went out of network, 7 which they didn't they think they did, they felt 8 that they were entirely covered, and they got a 9 surprise bill for $100,000 and nearly had another 10 heart attack. 11 And I know the fight it was to get that 12 legislation done in this budget. 13 The insurance companies are very powerful. 14 They have a very strong lobby. And it's going to be 15 a hell of a fight. 16 But, we can get it done. 17 So, specifically, and you are on the front 18 lines, and to the other organizations that are here: 19 What needs to be done to deal with them, to make 20 sure that that safe -- because three days is BS. 21 I mean, you can't get over an addiction to 22 Pepsi-Cola in three days, you know. 23 FRANK PELLIGRINO: Yeah, and we have a 24 shelter part of our program, and clients typically 25 come in, before they even start treatment, they're 1 there for two weeks. And after two weeks, not much 2 has changed. I mean, they're still shaking like a 3 leaf after two weeks. 4 So, it's really -- it blows my mind how 5 insurance companies can say, "Sorry, he should be 6 better by now." 7 And just to note: Right now, there are 8 State-run facilities that will take people with no 9 coverage. 10 So if you are getting denied by other 11 facilities, you can get in contact with OASAS. On 12 their Web site, they have several State-run 13 facilities that will take you with no coverage. 14 SENATOR BALL: I think, ma'am, you wanted 15 to -- 16 AUDIENCE MEMBER: I want to reiterate what 17 this mother said: I have also dealt with trying to 18 get into Arms Acres -- my son trying to get into 19 Arms Acres, and trying to get into 20 St. Christopher's. 21 Insurance: Seven years my son has battled 22 addiction. Our health insurance guarantees 30 days 23 of inpatient treatment every year. 24 In seven years, he's been granted six days of 25 treatment. Okay? 1 We have gone the route of him being so 2 desperate to get in, and not being able to go into 3 an emergency room, not being able to get into a 4 facility, that he has said: Well, I'm not suicidal, 5 I'm not gonna jump off a bridge, but if I go back 6 out on to the street today, there's a very good 7 chance that I'm gonna overdose, so let me go on to 8 the psychiatric ward. 9 Again, the psychiatric ward will only be 10 approved for two days, and then he's sent to a 11 homeless shelter without the medication that he's 12 now been on for two days. 13 Then the homeless shelter, he's on a list for 14 St. Christopher's, which is a three-week list. 15 But, then, he gets denied by 16 St. Christopher's. 17 And I'm not bashing St. Christopher's. 18 I mean, I know that they're doing everything that 19 they can do. 20 But it gets denied by St. Christopher's 21 because of his psychiatric evaluation. 22 The only reason he went on to the psychiatric 23 ward was because there was no place else to go. 24 This is a disease. 25 No family member would be expected to sit 1 there and tell their asthmatic loved one to just 2 breathe more easily. 3 They would not be told to tell their loved 4 one, you know, don't let those cancer cells divide, 5 until there's time. 6 This is a disease, and we have to get the 7 insurance companies to be responsible. 8 If somebody has benefits, they have to be 9 allowed to use those benefits. 10 I was once crying in the Arms Acres office. 11 My son was homeless, transportationless, and 12 insurance says: If he doesn't do outpatient first, 13 then he can't go into inpatient. 14 The end of the story, is that this is what 15 I have left of my son. These are his ashes. He 16 died six weeks ago today from a drug overdose. 17 And this ravaged -- this disease ravaged his 18 brain, and maybe he never would have beat it. 19 Just like, some people, no matter what 20 facility they go to, can't beat cancer. 21 But I will always wonder: What if he could 22 have gotten the treatment he needed? 23 So, there can't be lip service. 24 You have to keep asking those questions, and 25 keep interrupting, and keep saying "What can we do?" 1 Because her son, my -- my son's battle's 2 lost, but her son's isn't. 3 We have to keep fighting this. 4 [Applause.] 5 JACK MACK: With all due respect, we are the 6 little people, and we're not gonna be able to craft 7 legislation. 8 You're very clearly hearing -- you're very 9 clearly hearing some of the heartbreaking stories. 10 I have a question for Amy. 11 I had heard that, with the implementation of 12 the Affordable Care Act, there might be more parity 13 for these mental-health and addiction issues, and 14 that might be hopeful. 15 Is there anything to that? 16 AMY SUCICH: Supposed to be, but we haven't 17 seen that actually being realized. 18 I mean, we just don't have -- we don't see 19 that being realized with the insurance companies; 20 not at all. 21 Somebody said that -- 22 SENATOR BOYLE: If I could? 23 One of the issues that we've heard about: 24 And, obviously, Senator Ball's taken a 25 leadership role on this, in terms of legislation, 1 mandating insurance coverage. 2 And Senator Kemp Hannon from Long Island has 3 a similar legislation that we're working on. 4 Mandates are a little tough, especially on 5 this level. 6 But one of things we've heard from other 7 forums, and, please, let me know what you think, is 8 that, when people are trying to get treatment for 9 their loved ones, the insurance companies are 10 saying: We're not gonna cover it because it's not 11 medically necessary. 12 UNKNOWN SPEAKER: Right, right. 13 SENATOR BOYLE: And so what we're trying to 14 do is have -- sit down, and I've talked to the 15 insurance-company executives and health-care 16 providers and treatment providers about getting on 17 the same page. 18 Because I've talked to 11 different insurance 19 companies, and they all have different definitions 20 of "medically necessary." 21 UNKNOWN SPEAKER: Exactly. 22 SENATOR BOYLE: And the vast majority of 23 them, no one can possibly make every one of the 24 criteria. 25 So we want one uniform definition of 1 "medical necessity" for opiate addiction and 2 treatment. 3 And I think that might be a big way to go in 4 this in the coming weeks. 5 UNKNOWN SPEAKER: Yeah. 6 UNKNOWN SPEAKER: Sounds good. 7 [Applause.] 8 SENATOR CARLUCCI: If I can just jump in, 9 again, I'm Senator David Carlucci. I chair the 10 Mental Health Committee in the Senate. 11 Commissioner Piazza, you mentioned about 12 Medicaid fee-for-service, and we are moving to 13 managed care. And it's something that we've had 14 tremendous issues, with the mental-health 15 population, with people with developmental 16 disabilities. 17 What are some of the concerns that you have, 18 that you're saying it's working now, people are 19 getting coverage? 20 What are some of the ways we can safeguard 21 that as we move to managed care? 22 MIKE PIAZZA: Under Medicaid fee-for-service, 23 at this point, there is much less restrictions on a 24 person who is being covered with Medicaid 25 fee-for-services. 1 If they meet the criteria for entry into 2 Arms Acres or to St. Christopher's, or an outpatient 3 program, or a mental-health unit, there's no one 4 really looking over their shoulder. You're not 5 getting the, three days and out, show me what the -- 6 you know, show me the progress. 7 When we go to managed care, in the 8 managed-care plans now, the managed-care mental 9 health -- the managed-care Medicaid plans now, 10 you're treated the same way as, basically, the 11 insurance that we have, or the Empire plan that we 12 have; that they're gonna be checking every few days, 13 you know, Is it medical necessary -- Is it medically 14 necessary for you to go in? 15 So our concern is, that, you know, for many 16 young people who need long-term treatment, we 17 encourage not having managed care for Medicaid, but 18 going into a fee-for-service, because it allows them 19 to get into long-term programs, treatment -- 20 residential treatment centers (RTCs). 21 And so the concern is, that when everyone's 22 under managed care, the insurance companies will be 23 responsible for clamping down. 24 So that's a concern. 25 SENATOR CARLUCCI: So it's even more 1 important, like Senator Boyle just talked about, 2 that definition is so important to transcend, not 3 just to private insurance, but also to managed care, 4 and it probably would solve some of the concerns 5 that you're talking about. 6 MIKE PIAZZA: Right. 7 And I'll -- but on the other side now, I'll 8 have to say, because Dr. Roe is here, and he -- 9 I was reminded: Vistaril is a drug that's given for 10 alcohol. And under Fidelis managed-care plan, they 11 have no problem providing it for Medicaid recipients 12 who are covered by it. 13 Under Medicaid fee-for-service, it's a much 14 more difficult process to provide Vistaril. 15 So on that level, you know, it turns the 16 other way. 17 DR. ROE [ph.]: May I say, the problem is, we 18 have the wrong people deciding what's medically 19 necessary. It's not doctors and treatment -- 20 [Applause.] 21 DR. ROE [ph.]: We've got the fox guarding 22 the hen house. And what has been managed care has 23 become "damaged care." 24 SENATOR CARLUCCI: Dr. Roe, do you have 25 experience where you have prescribed to a patient 1 for inpatient facilities, or -- and you have found 2 them being denied? 3 DR. ROE [ph.]: I had it happen, every week, 4 I get on the telephone with what they call a 5 "doc-to-doc." 6 I talk to a doctor who's working for an 7 insurance company, whose salary is being paid by the 8 insurance company to find reasons to save money for 9 the insurance company. 10 What we need is an independent panel of 11 treatment experts to define what is necessary, and 12 that should be what manages care; not the insurance 13 companies deciding what's medically necessary. 14 UNKNOWN SPEAKER: That's right. 15 SENATOR BALL: Ma'am? 16 UNKNOWN SPEAKER: Can I speak? 17 SENATOR BALL: Yes, sir. [Indicating.] 18 CHANEL FARASELI [ph.]: Good evening, 19 everyone. 20 First, I want to apologize, because I'm a bit 21 emotional right now, so I wouldn't be thinking as 22 clear and elaborate and eloquent as I normally 23 would. 24 I also want to thank the Panel, every single 25 member that's here today. 1 And I want everyone, parent or, you know, 2 just neighbor, this is extremely -- 3 Okay. 4 -- this is an extremely important meeting. 5 I am so grateful that these forums are being 6 held. 7 I looked online previously, and I can tell 8 you, I was elated to know, and I have put on my 9 calendar, every day that I can possibly make it, 10 that's up in Albany, that's here in Hudson County. 11 I'm a lobbyist for every -- for the 12 2,000 students in my school district, with 13 Mr. Manko in Mahopac. 14 I'm there, and they know me right away. 15 My name is Chanel Faraseli [ph.]. 16 And they -- when I walk through, they say: 17 Hi, Mrs. Faraseli. Who are you here to help today? 18 So this is critical. 19 And I'm going to do everything that I can, so 20 these loopholes and challenges don't happen, or at 21 least we can reduce them. 22 There's still gonna be challenges. 23 Let's be honest and frank: There are going 24 to be challenges. 25 But I challenge everyone here -- 1 And side note, I did work for Senate and 2 legislation. 3 -- but, I challenge everyone here that's just 4 on the panel, we've gotta make this a little bit 5 more streamline. 6 We've -- what it is, in plain simple 7 language, is a catch 22: 8 "You can't do this," as some of the other 9 individuals have expressed. 10 You can't do this more than three days, 11 because you don't have a bed. 12 You can't have a bed because insurance is 13 making you wait there in the audience -- or, not the 14 audience, the waiting room forever and a day. 15 It's -- in the last month, in March, I saw a 16 series on the Sunday paper. It was in three 17 installments. 18 And I was -- I read it word for word, 19 backward and forward. And I knew then that I wanted 20 to do whatever I can, because I have volunteered in 21 the community for two decades. 22 And I hope -- I wanted to speak, because 23 I hope you can put a face with a scenario, with a 24 real life story. 25 I'm sorry to say, that I buried my son 1 Paul Jonathan Faraseli, only 24 years old, loved by 2 everyone, two weeks ago. 3 "Two." 4 "Two weeks ago." 5 And everyone has said: How are you standing? 6 How are you doing? How am I laughing? 7 I feel for this individual's pain right here, 8 because I know her pain. 9 I think the -- the only thing that got me 10 through, first and foremost, was my faith. 11 But barring that, because not everyone 12 believes in a higher power, but barring that, there 13 was so many signs, and I didn't -- did not have the 14 support -- not financially -- I didn't have the 15 emotional, logistics support from family, friends; 16 the students, the clique, if you will. 17 And trust me, Mr. Manko, I'm getting the 18 names. I'm getting the names; who, what, where, and 19 how. 20 As a Senate person, I'm very thorough. 21 So, whatever I can do, I'm gonna do. 22 And if that means I go to Washington, I'll 23 bring a magazine on the train. Okay? 24 So, my heart may be heavy, but I am not gonna 25 let my son's passing be in vain. His is gonna be an 1 inspiration. 2 And at that wake, we needed, not one, but 3 two entire rooms. About 100 people, including the 4 principal, Dr. Peace [ph.]; counselors. 5 I mean, what love that I have, and that's my 6 comfort. 7 But, the pain, I don't want anybody to have. 8 This shouldn't be. 9 What, we've got to get three days, when they 10 need that magic number, "90." 11 This is appalling. 12 Frankly, it's unacceptable. 13 And, this is a non-discriminatory situation. 14 So just because you're sitting here and you 15 don't know if a loved one is using, they very well 16 could be, and we don't know that. 17 They very well could be -- your child, your 18 son, your brother -- and there's nothing that's 19 going to be done by us reading a newspaper, and 20 talking about it to our neighbor. 21 That will not change anything. 22 It's going to take solidarity, and it's gonna 23 take action. 24 So I leave myself open to any individual who 25 would like to speak to me, who would like me to do 1 something. A task force that I can join. 2 That's why I wanted to make sure, when I knew 3 this from Judge Reitz [ph.] in our town, that he 4 needed a liaison. 5 This was prior to my son passing. 6 Anybody can stand up: Oh, because it's your 7 personal fight. 8 Anybody can do that. 9 Well, as I said earlier, those 2,000 kids in 10 the Mahopac School District, I treat them as my own. 11 I'm there for them. 12 So, we have to get it together, and people 13 need to be able to have somewhere to go, and talk. 14 So, if we do that. 15 Thank you. 16 Thank you very much. 17 [Applause.] 18 SENATOR BALL: I think -- unless anybody has 19 anything to add on the insurance issue, I think what 20 we'll go to, is we'll talk a little bit, because -- 21 on the prevention side. 22 And what I would like to do, as well, and we 23 can get sign-up sheets, we will follow up, just 24 locally, with a task force. 25 If we can get everybody's e-mail and cell 1 phone who wants to be on it. Make sure that your 2 e-mail is clear. 3 And that, as we legislatively work through 4 these things or find funding for these things, or, 5 administratively, we'll keep you in the loop, and -- 6 because we need your input on this stuff. 7 Okay. 8 BOBBY: Can I have three minutes? 9 Can I have three minutes to talk in the mic? 10 SENATOR BALL: Can you -- God bless, sir. 11 Speak into the mic. 12 BOBBY: Thank you. 13 My name is Bobby. I'm a long-time resident 14 of [unintelligible] Mahopac for 27 years. I love 15 this community. I love the kids. 16 What I see happen to these kids, these kids 17 feel like there's no future. That's why they go to 18 drugs. 19 There's no jobs for these kids. 20 They go to college, they major in something, 21 they get out on the street and go work at McDonald's 22 or A&P. 23 You go engineering school, you're at A&P. 24 There's 60,000 engineers. These people 25 aren't dodos. They work hard for what they got, and 1 they're on the street. 2 That's the kind of country, that's what we 3 dictate to these kids. 4 My generation, nothing personal, we dictate 5 to these kids. 6 These kids are despairful. They feel like 7 there's no hope; that's why they go to drugs. 8 I have an article here. I have this. 9 Anybody wants to read it, I'll put it out 10 front. 11 It's true grit, it's true grit. It's about 12 your kids. It's about your kids and psychology. 13 Read it, read it, it's true grit. 14 It's better than a newspaper. 15 "The New York Times," or "Daily Post," better 16 than any newspaper we ever read. 17 This is true grit. Read it, read it, read 18 it. 19 Read it, and don't weep, don't weep. 20 Just read it. 21 SENATOR BALL: Okay, thank you, sir. 22 [Applause.] 23 BRIANNA [ph.]: Hi. My name is 24 Brianna [ph.], and I am a drug addict. I have 25 ten years clean. 1 UNKNOWN SPEAKER: Hi, Brianna. 2 BRIANNA [ph.]: Hi. 3 [Applause.] 4 BRIANNA [ph.]: Thank you. 5 I grew up in Mahopac, and I got addicted to 6 drugs in Mahopac. 7 I come from a good family. And, actually, my 8 father was a president of Guiding Eyes for the Blind 9 in Yorktown. 10 And that's one of the things I wanted to 11 mention. 12 Sorry. 13 I am hearing that we're having a huge problem 14 with opening up a halfway house in Yorktown. 15 I don't think that that should even be a 16 debate. 17 A halfway house is how I ultimately got cheap 18 after six month of treatment in Florida. I couldn't 19 not stay here to get clean. I needed to leave. 20 I did go to Arms Acres for 28 days, but it 21 wasn't enough. I knew I needed more, and I ended 22 up -- I ended up -- I just wanted to mention about 23 the law enforcement and the tough love. 24 Everybody's different, and it may work for 25 some people. 1 I got arrested by a police officer that's in 2 this room right now, and I had a heart attack 3 two days later. 4 It didn't work for me. 5 But, in Florida, they have something that's 6 called the "Baker Act." And, anybody, a parent, can 7 call the police and say, "My son is in danger to 8 himself or another." He can be arrested and brought 9 to a psychiatric unit for three days. And then that 10 doctor will decide if he needs treatment or 11 psychiatric help. 12 Now, again, that goes into the insurance 13 issue, we need to clean all that up, but I feel like 14 that's something that could really help us here, 15 because, as soon as the kid turns 18, there's 16 nothing anyone can do. 17 In Florida we had an option. 18 I had to do it with a boyfriend of mine, and 19 it worked. And they arrested him and brought him to 20 a doctor, and he got the help that he needed. 21 Had the police officer that arrested me that 22 day brought me to a detox, I probably would have 23 stayed. I didn't want to get high anymore. 24 I wanted the help. 25 But jail didn't scare me. It was just a 1 hiccup in my day of getting high. 2 And you're not gonna talk someone into 3 treatment when they're high, or when they're coming 4 down, and all they can think about is more drugs. 5 So, if we can get something together like 6 that, that law enforcement works hand in hand with 7 the mental field, I feel like that could be a huge 8 solution to, you know, people who don't know where 9 their sons are right now. 10 SENATOR BALL: Is anybody else in the room 11 familiar with that Baker Act? 12 Okay. 13 UNKNOWN SPEAKER: There's also a Jennifer Act 14 that has been initiated, and there's also a federal 15 legislation, the SOS Act, as well, so that a parent, 16 again with your signing the waivers, that you have 17 more rights to work along -- 18 SENATOR BALL: The federal level it is just 19 legislation, though? It hasn't -- 20 UNKNOWN SPEAKER: Nothing's been approved. 21 SENATOR CARLUCCI: And in New York, we have 22 Kendra's Law. And this is something that I think we 23 could work on, expanding Kendra's Law to include 24 exactly what this young lady just spoke about. 25 So, thank you. 1 AUDIENCE MEMBER: What she's speaking about 2 is the Baker Act. And the Baker Act is more for a 3 mental case. 4 So, if you're saying that you're gonna commit 5 suicide, and they have to take you in. 6 And we kind of have that already going on in 7 New York. If you say you're gonna commit suicide, 8 then you're able to go ahead and get into a 9 psychiatric unit. 10 What she really needs to refer to is called 11 the "Marchman Act." 12 The Marchman Act is a law, under the Florida 13 statute, that enables a family member to obtain help 14 for a loved one who is unwilling to seek 15 substance-abuse services voluntarily. 16 SENATOR BALL: What is that called again? 17 AUDIENCE MEMBER: It's called the 18 "Marchman Act." 19 So that is something you can do as 20 legislation, to be able to really help us. 21 Because you opened up, asking: How can 22 someone get into a program if they don't want to go? 23 SENATOR BALL: Right, exactly. 24 AUDIENCE MEMBER: So that's what you can do 25 on your side to be able to help that out. 1 I work at the Walter Hoving Home, which is a 2 Christian women's facility that helps women come off 3 drugs and alcohol, and I oversee the intake office. 4 And the biggest dilemma I have, is people's 5 family members calling, going: How do we help 6 someone? 7 And I have to tell them they have to call us. 8 That's all I can do. And tell them to give 9 information in hopes that they would call us. 10 But sometimes they need that little push to 11 be able to get the right place. 12 But the Marchman Act would be something that 13 the state of New York could be able to kind of 14 follow. 15 SENATOR BALL: Okay, can we use that as a 16 segue on the law-enforcement side? 17 And if the law-enforcement officials who are 18 here, who are willing to speak out, could speak up a 19 little bit to what more can be done on the 20 law-enforcement side? 21 And then we do need to keep it moving, 22 because we have the training that's coming up, and 23 we need to keep it on the clock. Okay? 24 State Police you want to go first? 25 CAPTAIN ROBERT WILLIS: I'll just state that, 1 as the doctor from Albany mentioned: Locally here 2 in Troop K, at SP Poughkeepsie, we do have the 3 mailbox drop for drugs that are in people's homes. 4 They can bring, it's anonymous. They drop it in the 5 box, they can get them out of their home. 6 That's one of the most dangerous things, is 7 the leftover medication. There's no reason to keep 8 it at home. 9 It is just something that, especially if 10 someone may be an addict in the house, it's -- you 11 know, it's a liability. 12 You can bring it there, drop it off. We 13 don't take any names, it's totally anonymous. It 14 gets destroyed. 15 Next week we're starting with Train The 16 Trainer for troopers throughout the state of 17 New York, in the Narcan. 18 After they get trained, they'll come out to 19 field throughout the whole state, train the 20 troopers. And, hopefully, within the next few 21 months, we'll have the Narcan on patrol, where we're 22 responding to the overdoses. 23 As you know, the police, we're in a unique 24 situation. 25 We enforce the law. 1 Whether it's a trooper stopping someone on 2 the side of the road, and they have narcotics on 3 them; undercover drug operations; or responding to 4 domestic disputes at residences, because parents 5 have children in their house, that are under the 6 influence of narcotics, and we have to take control 7 of the situation. 8 So we see it on every angle. 9 And it's, just, the more, I think, with 10 education, and the treatment facility for people, is 11 the better that it can be for the whole community. 12 AUDIENCE MEMBER: Uhm, excuse me, can I say 13 something, please? 14 SENATOR BALL: Sure. 15 AUDIENCE MEMBER: It's kind of just a little 16 bit of what we've talked about the whole night. 17 There's education and prevention, and that's 18 a great thing if you can save children that way. 19 We went into the physicians, where they have 20 to be accountable with medication they give out. 21 Maybe lower doses. 22 I know the pharmacies are now changing the 23 medications that, maybe they can't be dissolved as 24 easy. They might be long-acting. 25 Okay, the next thing is, treatment and 1 programs. 2 And I have to say I think St. Christopher's 3 is a good program, but, we have our insurances. And 4 it's gonna get worse with Medicare and Medicaid. 5 So why can't, as taxpayers, everybody in this 6 room pays tax, there's a place that, at the time of 7 crisis, that child can go? 8 Because, like they said, if you don't get 9 them there when they're in crisis, they can go out 10 and use. 11 The drugs now are mixed with fentanyl and 12 things that are killing them like flies. 13 So if we pay taxes, instead of playing with 14 the insurance company, we should have a place to 15 bring the children, because we are taxpayers, and 16 there should be an open door, and a bed at that 17 immediate second. 18 [Applause.] 19 AUDIENCE MEMBER: And then the next thing is, 20 since the Oxycontin and the Vicodins and Percocets 21 are more hard to obtain from physicians, or the 22 pharmacy companies are changing their composition, 23 we now need our law enforcers to get out there and 24 bust the heroin dealers, because it's so damned 25 cheap, it's all over. 1 So I feel we need a place to get them 2 instantaneously. And we need our cops out there, 3 truly getting drug dealers, truly getting -- 4 SENATOR BALL: Well, they're actually gonna 5 be starting the training in a little bit. 6 We went through, and I'll go through all the 7 deliverable items that we've had, legislatively, and 8 otherwise. 9 Is there anybody else in the law-enforcement 10 community -- from the law-enforcement community who 11 would like to speak? 12 Okay. 13 AUDIENCE MEMBER: Senator, the biggest 14 problem we have with law enforcement is, we have 15 weak mental-health laws, or, public-health laws that 16 give us the position to actually enforce the law. 17 Heroin, it takes a huge amount of heroin to 18 make any kind of dent in a person. 19 I mean, you take a half a gram of cocaine, 20 you got a D felony. 21 It doesn't work the same way with heroin. 22 The laws against heroin are very weak. And 23 prescription drugs. 24 CPCS 7 is a misdemeanor, and it's the biggest 25 charge that we charge with, and we get nowhere with 1 it. 2 SENATOR BALL: Are there anymore specifics 3 anybody can give on that, the fact that the laws are 4 extremely weak on the -- specific on the heroin 5 side, with law enforcement and the laws? 6 JOE YASINSKI: My name is Joe Yaskinski. I'm 7 the deputy commissioner for the County Department of 8 Public Safety. 9 And, we realized this was a major problem 10 years ago. 11 In 2011, the Putnam General Task Force for -- 12 which is called the "diversion unit," we have locked 13 up doctors, pharmacists, people, selling narcotics 14 to opiates and heroin to these individuals over the 15 years. 16 And if you just read the newspaper a couple 17 days ago, ago, we had the first sentencing of an 18 individual who was responsible for two deaths of 19 two young men in Pearl River, and he's sentenced to 20 a minimum of 10 years in prison for that. 21 There's a 20-year minimum, but he took a 22 plea, but he got 10 years for this. 23 And I think that the state laws need to be 24 enhanced. 25 The federal law is the only law we can use to 1 actually combat this in a great way. 2 So, there are many issues. 3 And, also, couple of things were mentioned 4 before. 5 One of the gentleman here who lost a loved 6 one, mentioned how parents are embarrassed to come 7 to law enforcement, or anyone, to tell about this 8 problem, because they feel embarrassed that their 9 loved one has died. 10 That information, we need that information. 11 We need to get information of a loved one: 12 Where they were hanging out. Who they were dealing. 13 With who their friends were. Who -- with 14 pharmacists they went to. 15 These are the things that we need to do our 16 job. 17 So, if I had to just push one point across, 18 it would be that: we need help from the public 19 itself. 20 And we also need some stronger state laws to 21 assist. 22 [Applause.] 23 SENATOR BALL: Okay. 24 And I ask that everybody follow up with 25 suggestions on that. 1 I think Bob Tendy wants to speak. 2 I don't know if our former district attorney 3 wants to speak as well. 4 Bob. 5 ROBERT TENDY: Everybody's solution is 6 different. There are many solutions, and we've all 7 discussed a lot of them. 8 But the gentleman to my left over here just 9 made a point that I think is very valid. 10 We have DWI laws, where if you have two DWI 11 arrests, it's a felony. 12 But I have clients who have 30 CPCS 7 13 arrests, and they're all misdemeanors. 14 And, it seems -- I'm a defense attorney, I'm 15 saying this -- but it seems to me that that's kind 16 of silly. 17 I really think that if you have two or three, 18 it should be -- it should rise to the level of a 19 felony. 20 [Applause.] 21 JOE: Can I say something, Senator? 22 Joe, from Westchester County. 23 I know you guys have been doing a great job 24 with regards to trying to work with the local 25 municipalities, and with your drug-enforcement 1 units. 2 Because, each municipality, to do it 3 individually, is just not gonna happen. 4 So, I know we've teamed up with you 5 previously, you know, with our narcotics guy, and 6 works -- has worked unbelievable with you guys. 7 And I've talked to Undersheriff Peter over 8 here, and he's willing to come on board. 9 And, between Putnam and Westchester county, 10 we've just got to get this done. 11 JOE YASINSKI: And I agree, and we have 12 worked well with Putnam County for many, many years. 13 I started out in 1974. I was in a narcotics 14 unit in 1975, and we had been working with the 15 Putnam County Sheriff's Office from that time. 16 I started 40 years ago. 17 And, you're right, it's unfortunate that we 18 have a lot of small departments that can't afford to 19 handle these problems. They need to get us 20 involved. They need the federal government to be 21 involved. 22 And that's what we do. 23 JOE: We've had a great relationship with 24 you, and it's been working. 25 JOE YASINSKI: And just another -- another 1 point, too: I know money is tight, but when we 2 seize -- we seize properties and monies from these 3 bums, and we use that to enhance our programs. 4 So we take the money from them as well, and 5 we use that for enforcement. 6 So, again, it's -- 7 JOE: We'll be working with you again real 8 soon. 9 JOE YASINSKI: Okay. 10 Thank you. 11 KEVIN WRIGHT: Senator, I -- I started a year 12 after Joe, in Westchester County, and I think we 13 worked a few cases over the years. 14 But I remind everybody that, in 1972, 15 New York State enacted what was heralded across the 16 country as the most draconian drug laws in the 17 history of mankind. 18 And, it was society -- the 19 intelligencia (ph.), the cool people, whatever -- 20 I don't quite know what it was, but, it was the 21 society in which we lived that walked back and 22 watered down those laws. 23 I -- I don't understand how it came about, 24 but I know that we had among the most horrific 25 sentencing laws anywhere in the world. And we still 1 incarcerate probably more people for drug offenses, 2 on a per capita basis, than anyone in the world. 3 We just don't seem to be getting our hands 4 around the problem. We've had the tough laws, and 5 we've walked them back. 6 UNKNOWN SPEAKER: Can I make a comment on 7 that? 8 KEVIN WRIGHT: I have a feeling that part of 9 it -- gentleman just stood up and talked about our 10 mental-health laws -- it seems to me that when the 11 rights of those in the asylum became paramount, and 12 they were just turned loose on streets, in what was 13 thought to be a helpful, Christian act, I think we 14 started down a path where we're afraid to say to 15 someone: You're a danger to yourself, you're a 16 danger to society. We're going to put you where, if 17 you can't help yourself, at least you can't hurt 18 others. 19 But that needs to be more than four concrete 20 walls. It's gotta be coupled with good medical 21 care. 22 And this country is about to embark upon the 23 decriminalization of almost anything that you can 24 imagine. 25 And if politicians don't demand, instead of 1 using the tax revenues that come from that, and the 2 freed-up prison space, and the reduced criminal 3 justice budgets, because they don't have to arrest 4 these individuals anymore; if the taxpayers don't 5 demand that the revenues that are saved from all of 6 this decriminalization go into treatment and health 7 care for the addicted, we're never going to get our 8 hands on the problem. 9 SENATOR BALL: Thank you, Kevin. 10 Before we follow up the third category on, 11 actually, with the kids, if the -- I know Tom is 12 here, other superintendents, principals, if you can 13 tell us what's working in your schools, what's 14 working in other schools, what's not working, and 15 how we can help to make sure that we get to these 16 kids at a young age. 17 And, then, what is "age appropriate"? 18 And what programs are working? 19 Do you want to -- 20 DANIELLE SULLIVAN: Hello. I'm actually new 21 to Brewster, Brewster High School, but one of the 22 things that I can tell you that's worked 23 universally, in any educational setting, I think the 24 doctoral candidate -- I'm sorry, I forgot your 25 name -- pointed it out, was the culture change; the 1 culture change piece. 2 Educational outreach that involves both the 3 students and their families, that they can attend 4 and experience together, which creates dialogues. 5 And I think middle-school aged is even 6 appropriate, because the reality is, it's occurring 7 in that age group. 8 I see 14- to 18-year-olds all day, every day. 9 And, at least once a day, there is some type of 10 topic or mention, or even an incident, that is 11 affecting a child in that age group that I hear 12 about on a daily basis. 13 And one of the key points that they always 14 make is that, they would like the support. They 15 would like the family to be involved, as well. And 16 they don't always ask for it, but it is evident in 17 the discussion with them. 18 So I really do feel that the educational 19 outreach, in terms of the prevention, with that age 20 group, is extremely appropriate. 21 And to do that we do need to change the 22 culture in the school. 23 SENATOR BALL: Can peers influence -- can you 24 guys just -- when is the showing -- the first 25 showing that you guys are doing, so people can know 1 about that? 2 UNKNOWN SPEAKER: [Unintelligible.] 3 SENATOR BALL: And where is it? 4 UNKNOWN SPEAKER: [Unintelligible]. 5 SENATOR BALL: And this is for the 6 documentary. 7 FRANK REALE: We have the one-hour 8 documentary, "Chasing It." The first showing is 9 scheduled for Friday night in Putnam Valley, at the 10 Performing Arts Center in Putnam Valley. 11 And we are now working with, I believe, 12 three other schools that are going to be submitting 13 the requests to you. 14 And, we'll be -- we've contacted a couple of 15 them already. And, I think we have four now. 16 And it's open to any school district in 17 District 40. And the program includes the 18 documentary film, as well as three of our speakers. 19 And one of the things we're going to ask the 20 schools to do, and this is the most important part, 21 I believe, we're going to open the door to the 22 conversation, but we need the schools to provide the 23 resources to continue the conversation. 24 And those resources would be the guidance 25 counselors and other folks that are in the health 1 industry. 2 SENATOR BALL: Do any -- anybody from the 3 schools: Superintendents? Tom? Sam? Tom? 4 TOM MANKO: The issue that we have in 5 schools, is having sustainable resources. 6 You can come in and show a movie, and you can 7 ask me to dedicate guidance counselors, but I have 8 to tell you, in 13 years of education, we have to 9 get children ready to graduate and be 10 college-and-career ready, and there are only so many 11 hours in a day. 12 We have a 9-period day, and it's not long 13 enough. 14 And school districts are often charged with 15 being the keepers of the door for citizenship, and 16 character education. 17 And you can ask us for resources, but we 18 don't have enough to go around. 19 So, our guidance counselors, our social 20 workers, our school psychologists, have a plate 21 that's overflowing right now with everything we have 22 to do. 23 I can't think of a more important topic than 24 this, but at the same time, we have to get kids 25 ready to graduate. 1 So, we need, and Senator Ball has been 2 excellent at this, in providing school districts 3 with long-term, sustainable resources so that we can 4 hire people that can do this. 5 Because I'm convinced, that you can show a 6 movie, and you can say we're gonna bring parents in 7 to watch this movie, and that's gonna change the 8 world. 9 But if the parents don't take the message 10 home with them and sustain it, then it's not gonna 11 happen. 12 What we have to do, is build the systems in 13 our school, with drug counselors, with prevention 14 counselors, and somewhere along the line, I would 15 like to be able to mandate moms and dads at every 16 grade level, K through 12, to have to mandatorily 17 attend drug-and-alcohol awareness counseling, and do 18 it every year for 13 years. 19 [Applause.] 20 SAM OLIVERIO: We have an expert here, 21 Elaine Santos, who comes to our of district 22 periodically, once a month, with the Putnam County 23 Communities That Care Coalition. 24 What it is, it's a joint effort of school 25 members, parents, students, representatives from the 1 County, the Mental Health Department, the Youth 2 Bureau. That's what it takes; and it's constant. 3 It's not a one-shot deal. 4 Elaine brings her advisers and her associates 5 with her. And our superintendent of schools sits 6 there, I sit there, our SRO (our school resource 7 officer) sits there, along with parents, and other 8 people from the community, pastors, our Park and 9 Recs people, our Town officials. We have a 10 representative from the town of Putnam Valley. 11 That's what it takes; it's got to be a 12 community effort. 13 And I agree with Dr. Manko, it has to be 14 constant. It can't be a one-shot deal. That 15 doesn't work. 16 And most importantly, Elaine makes it a 17 point, and the Youth Bureau in this county makes it 18 a point, to bring forward speakers to our building 19 at least two, three, four, five, six times a year, 20 talking about this problem, so that the parents 21 continually hear the message: Watch your children. 22 Watch your children and know what's going on. 23 And I have to applaud Elaine and 24 Joe DeMarzo [ph.] and Mike Piazza for providing this 25 service, not only to our school, but to so many 1 schools in the county; because it's second to none. 2 SENATOR BALL: Yes, sir. 3 DAVID: Hi, my name is David 4 [unintelligible.] I'm a member of this community, 5 and I also have 24 years clean in 6 Narcotics Anonymous. 7 I'm a recipient of the tough love. 8 My mom had me arrested twice. I went to 9 New York State Department of Corrections, where 10 I heard the message of recovery. 11 I hear all of this going on in the community. 12 I've lost two siblings myself, I buried, 13 since I came into recovery. 14 I'm a homeowner. I'm a taxpayer. I have a 15 13-year-old boy that I need to protect. 16 My question to you here is: 17 You've asked us -- you asked us, what can 18 we -- you know, "Give me ideas." 19 How many people from the insurance industry 20 are here tonight? 21 [Laughter.] 22 UNKNOWN SPEAKER: Good question. 23 DAVID: I mean, this -- if we're gonna have 24 an open dialogue, we need to know what we're 25 fighting. 1 In 1992, I worked for New York State 2 Department of OASAS down on 125th Street, under 3 the L. 4 The same problem I faced then, with the women 5 that were walking the streets of New York, was 6 getting them into a facility. 7 We would put them on the train, and, 8 hopefully, there would be a place in Turning Point, 9 if there was a bed available. 10 Same thing. 11 I've done H&I work (hospitals and 12 institutions) in my own time. Into 13 St. Christopher's, into Arms Acre, into 14 St. Vincent's, I've done all the volunteer work 15 there. 16 It is the same question from 1992: How do we 17 get treatment for them? 18 The legislation needs to change and close the 19 loopholes in the insurance companies' pit. 20 When you go to them and you ask them for 21 help, and they tell you, "Your disease does not fit 22 the medical criteria," that's the hole that I hear 23 all the time. 24 And I'm not even in the profession anymore. 25 I'm just a member in the community. 1 That's where I'd like to see the action start 2 taking place. 3 Thank you. 4 [Applause.] 5 SENATOR BALL: Guys, what we're going to do 6 is -- 7 ELAINE PAWLOWSKI: Excuse me, if I can just 8 address the school issue here? 9 One thing that you seem to forget -- I've 10 been in teaching for over 30 years -- is when you 11 are in the school district, the Board of Ed controls 12 much of what goes on in the schools. 13 And they really need to be educated, that 14 they can't cut the guidance counselors, they can't 15 cut the psychologists, they can't cut the addiction 16 services and the drug services, in the middle 17 schools and the high schools. 18 The other thing that they seem to cut, as 19 well, is there's a 504 classification, that children 20 can use when they have medical problems, and that 21 includes addiction, that includes substance-use 22 disorders. 23 Parents don't like to use it, the school does 24 not like to use it, but it is federal law. 25 They don't use it, and you should be able to 1 use it, and it should be encouraged to use it, so 2 that you get more of those programs. 3 And there are grant programs available for 4 that. 5 And many of the school boards' committees do 6 not recognize that as a priority. 7 They may look for academic scholars and grant 8 programs that way, but there's many other 9 opportunities to get that into the school, as well. 10 TOM MANKO: While I hear what you've said, 11 I have to disagree with you right on down the line. 12 Our board of education is extremely 13 knowledgeable about the Part 200 regulations, the 14 federal 504, and the Part 300 in federal regs. 15 We spend, probably, the largest portion of 16 our academic budget on ELL, special-ed students, and 17 those students who are in need. 18 Our board gets it. 19 We have a 2 percent property-levy tax cap, 20 and we have a 3.5 percent cap on increases in State 21 aid. 22 Although, this year, under the Senators' 23 guidance, we were able to bust that open. 24 It comes a matter of, we have to balance the 25 budget when we present it to our voters the third 1 Tuesday in May, or we can't present it, number one. 2 Number two, it's got to be approved. 3 And, number three: Please believe me when 4 I tell you, it's not just counselors and 5 psychologists that get the hit. We're taking a look 6 at AP classes, honors' classes. We're taking a look 7 at higher student-teacher ratios in the elementary. 8 It's not as simple as you portray it. 9 ELAINE PAWLOWSKI: No, I understand it's not 10 simple, but what I'm saying is, there is a 11 504 classification. And if parents recognize, and 12 get over that this is a shameful situation that 13 they're in, there is help for them along that route, 14 as well. 15 And there's not enough people that take that. 16 SENATOR BALL: Ladies and gentlemen, so this 17 is what we're gonna do: 18 We have a -- there are about 100 -- 19 approximately 100 Narcan kits. 20 Everybody who wants to stay for that 21 training, I know we have about 100 people that 22 signed up for the training, please do that. 23 I would like Senator Carlucci and 24 Senator Boyle to get some closing remarks. 25 If I -- I'm gonna run through these very 1 quickly so they're on the record, and then we'll 2 follow up. 3 But, on deliverables, and if I forgot 4 anything, you guys need to let me know. 5 You can't hear me? 6 KARINA CHRISTIANSEN: Can I just say one 7 thing? 8 SENATOR BALL: Yes, ma'am. 9 KARINA CHRISTIANSEN: I'm sorry. 10 I'm gonna give a perspective of somebody in 11 their 20s, still, thank God. 12 People in this room are talking from the 13 perspective of parents, and they're looking at their 14 children. 15 But we have to remember that these are men in 16 their 20s. These are adults. 17 My brother started using at 26 years old. He 18 was an adult man. He was a police detective in 19 New York City. 20 And, so, you're all coming from the very 21 reasonable and important perspective of protecting 22 your children, but we have to also remember, these 23 are adult autonomous members of our society. 24 SENATOR BALL: Thank you. 25 [Applause.] 1 SENATOR BALL: Okay, so on the 2 law-enforcement side: 3 We're gonna follow up with the Marchman Act, 4 using Florida as an example, to give parents and 5 relatives more input. 6 We talked a little bit about, the laws 7 against heroin in comparison to other narcotics, 8 they're extremely weak and need to be strengthened. 9 There's a suggestion from Bob Tendy, 10 Supervisor Tendy, about two or three violations 11 should be a felony. 12 Treatment, the insurance companies right now 13 are covering three days, when, really, for most 14 folks, it should be 90. 15 We need to dig into that. 16 And, Senator Carlucci agreed, and 17 Senator Boyle, of course, that we will, and we will 18 do that as a team. 19 The reimbursement rate, I know Amy from 20 St. Christopher's talked about that. 21 The insurance companies, Nora talked about 22 that, requiring a face-to-face, and the 23 complications there, as well as saying that, 24 "not medically necessary." 25 Senator Boyle talked about the need to 1 actually, properly, define "medically necessary," 2 and, not allow some guy with a pencil-neck, sitting 3 behind a phone, talking about "medical necessity," 4 when we have people that are about to die. 5 And, somebody else -- a parent also talked 6 about the process needing to be much more 7 streamlined. 8 On the prevention end, this may not be the 9 prevention, but, anyways, as a deliverable: Docs 10 are prescribing opiates, and Carol talked about 11 this, in large quantities. 12 We need to follow up on that: Actually 13 holding doctors and the medical community 14 accountable, including the number of pills. 15 It was brought up by Carl Albano, who I think 16 has since left, about prescription to children under 17 a certain age. 18 And then, when we were talking about, I think 19 it was Brewster -- 20 Principal from Brewster? 21 DANIELLE SULLIVAN: I'm an assistant 22 principal. 23 SENATOR BALL: Okay. 24 Well, next year, next year. 25 -- a cultural shift, that we actually have to 1 involve the parents. 2 And my -- are there any other superintendents 3 in the room? 4 My favorite superintendent, Tom Manko -- 5 [Laughter.] 6 SENATOR BALL: No, it's true. 7 -- brought up the fact that the schools are 8 extremely strapped, so we need to do these things in 9 the community, involve the parents, and move on. 10 Guys, we will follow up. 11 Susie -- if my staff can announce themselves? 12 Susie is my chief of staff. 13 Raise your hand, Susie McDonough. 14 And then, [unintelligible]. 15 [Applause.] 16 SENATOR BALL: If you have any easy 17 questions, send them to me. 18 If you have any really tough questions, give 19 them to Senator Carlucci, or Susie McDonough. 20 And then, [unintelligible] who's here, she's 21 my legislative director. So on the legislative 22 side, if you're interested in being involved in the 23 process, you know, please contact her. 24 Senator Carlucci. 25 SENATOR CARLUCCI: Well, again, Senator Ball, 1 I want to thank you for putting this together. 2 And I just really want to say, thank you, to 3 everyone that's here tonight. 4 Thank you to the parents who have lost so 5 much, for sharing your story; for having the courage 6 to stand up and share your experience. 7 Because that's what it's gonna take. 8 You know, we talked about some of obstacles, 9 when we talk about an entrenched industry -- an 10 insurance industry that doesn't like to change. 11 I think, with all of the obstacles that we've 12 talked about, I also see a lot of opportunities, 13 because, we are in a changing time. 14 Whether it's the Affordable Care Act, the 15 move to managed care; locally, our Regional Centers 16 of Excellence, with completely changing our 17 psychiatric centers in the state of New York; what's 18 important, as we transition, is that we have to take 19 these ideas and these suggestions and make them a 20 reality. 21 And, I heard so many different, important 22 ideas and problems, that I think that we can 23 address. 24 Whether it's dealing with Medicaid managed 25 care, or dealing with private insurance companies, 1 making sure that there is respite for people that 2 need it, these are really exciting ideas, if you 3 will, that you've shared with us. 4 And I really just want to thank you for that. 5 We're continuing these hearings around the 6 state. 7 Locally, across the river, in 8 Rockland County, we're gonna have a hearing, or, 9 another, roundtable, Tuesday, May 27th, and that 10 will be in the middle of the day. 11 And, you know what? We brought up a good 12 and -- a good point was risen by someone in the 13 crowd, about having the insurance industry here. 14 So we'll make sure to invite them, to make it 15 a point, particularly, to have them there on 16 May 27th if we can't get them at a sooner meeting, 17 to make sure that they're part of the dialogue, and 18 they hear these stories; hear the stories of when 19 they weren't there. 20 So, I want to thank you all again. 21 I thank Senator Ball, and thank 22 Senator Boyle, and the staff here, for putting 23 together this wonderful forum. 24 So, thank you, and look forward to working 25 with you all. 1 [Applause.] 2 SENATOR BOYLE: I, too, want to thank 3 Senator Ball and his great staff for putting this 4 together. 5 And, Senator Carlucci, thank you for -- so 6 much for coming. 7 I urge all of you, whoever -- if your 8 schedule allows, to stick around for the Narcan 9 training. It truly is a miracle drug, and we will 10 save lives tonight as a result of it. 11 UNKNOWN SPEAKER: Senator Ball? 12 Senator Ball? 13 SENATOR BOYLE: Thank you to the panelists, 14 and to the audience. 15 We had -- we have great ideas coming out of 16 tonight. 17 And I promise you, that when we introduce 18 legislation and pass it this Senate session, it's 19 gonna be from the ideas we got tonight. 20 Thank you so much. 21 SENATOR BALL: Thank you, everybody. 22 (Whereupon, at approximately 7:46 p.m., 23 the forum held before the New York State Joint 24 Task Force on Heroin and Opioid Addiction 25 concluded, and adjourned.)

Public Forum: Putnam County Panel Discussion on Carmel Hamlet'S Heroin Epidemic

Transcript