Summary/Abstract

Choopers Foundation will launch a Harm Reduction Van offering syringe exchange, freee naloxone and treatment assessment and placement into medicatio, a leading provider of MAT services in Maine.n assisted treatment (suboxone). It will be operated in conjunction with Grace Street Recovery Services

Content

 Mobile treatment clinic to combat addiction in York County

A Midcoast man and his business partner are taking a new approach to fighting Maine's opioid epidemic by deploying a mobile treatment clinic.

Tim Cheney, a former heroin addict who has been in recovery for almost 36 years, is outfitting a camper he found online with clean needles and naloxone. The camper will also be able to test for diseases and treat those struggling with addiction.

Cheney plans on deploying the camper to the Sanford area.

"We want to keep them alive until they are able to or make the decision to come into recovery," Cheney said.

Cheney is now a successful business man. He is a co-founder of the Choopers Foundation, a non-profit helping people living with substance use disorders.

He is also involved with Grace Street Recovery Services, and hopes that connection will help the people who step into the mobile treatment center.

"If we meet them in a compassionate fashion, and one day, they come in and they're just sick and tired of being sick and tired, they know that they can come into treatment immediately," Cheney said.

Reaction among the Sanford community is mixed.

"I think it's a great idea," said Sanford business owner Allen Paquette. "You see the people around. You see the needles laying on the ground," he said.

Patti Froloff wants to see a bigger focus on prevention.

"What are we doing at the beginning of the problem?," she said.

Many Mainers, including Gov. Paul LePage, are pushing back against increasing access to naloxone. Cheney wants those people to reconsider.

"Would you say if it was your child? I would say that this is a health issue. It is not a criminal issue. It is not a moral issue, that anybody can become addicted, " Cheney said.

Cheney's program will run on philanthropy and volunteers. He is also putting his own money into the project, and the camper should be ready to hit the road in a few weeks.