SULLIVAN COUNTY, NY — Despite recent data showing a drop in county overdose calls to 911, Sullivan’s Opioid Task Force is still pushing to establish a stabilization treatment center—a 24-hour drop-in center that will help people in mental and substance use health crises plan their next steps—to continue the fight against the opioid crisis in Sullivan County. 

In 2021, the average number of overdose calls per month to the Sullivan County 911 center was 38. In 2022 and 2023 it was 35 and 27 respectively. The most recent average, in 2024, has decreased significantly with an average of a little under 15 overdose-related calls to 911 per month. Announcing the data at the Sullivan County Legislature, commissioner of health and human services John Liddle said, “We’re making progress.” 

Even with the positive data point, the most recent New York State annual opioid report released for 2024 states “In NYS, among counties with 40 or more overdose deaths involving any opioid in 2022, the crude rate per 100,000 population for overdose deaths involving any opioid was highest in Sullivan County.”  

Sullivan County also had the largest absolute increase (16.4 per 100,000) from 2021 (46.4 per 100,000) to 2022 (62.8 per 100,000). See the full report at www.health.ny.gov/statistics/opioid/data/pdf/nys_opioid_annual_report_2024.pdf.

Though by nature the data lags behind, the 2024 annual report underscores the need for continued intervention. The county’s opioid task force says it is moving forward with plans to establish a stabilization center in the county. The center was first comprehensively discussed in December 2023.

Stabilization centers, such as the one recently proposed for Sullivan County, are seen as an alternative to the overburdened hospitals and police departments that currently staff the front lines in treating mental health and substance abuse disorders, which are not designed to handle crises of this nature.

A stabilization center, on the other hand, provides skilled and compassionate “urgent treatment” to people in the middle of an acute disorder. “Services are for recipients experiencing challenges in daily life that do not pose the likelihood of serious harm to self or others,” according to 2022 guidelines from the New York State Office of Mental Health and the New York State Office of Addiction Services and Supports. “Such challenges may also create risk for an escalation of behavioral health symptoms that cannot reasonably be managed in the recipient’s home and/or community environment without on-site support.”

Melissa Stickle, director of Sullivan County Community Services, says possible locations for the center are being explored in Monticello, and she is currently waiting for architectural drawings to move forward. Funding conversations are also moving forward, Stickle says, and talks with both Assemblymember Paula Kay (NY-100) and State Sen. Peter Oberacker (NY-51) are in the works.

Sullivan County’s Congressional Rep. Josh Riley (NY-19) voiced his support to secure funding for the project during his 2024 congressional campaign.

Riley told the River Reporter, “Of course,” he would support efforts to build a stabilization center in Sullivan County. For him, “it’s a top priority that there are places people can go and get the help they need.” 

“My approach to this comes from growing up in a community that was devastated by the opioid epidemic,” Riley told the River Reporter. Riley said that a stabilization or treatment center “almost always requires federal funding, either through the Department of Health and Human Services and or through the justice department. And I have done work in my career in a bipartisan way to increase that funding and provide it to communities that need it, and I will continue to support that kind of work in Sullivan County.”