Middletown hosts two-day addiction recovery event in effort to reduce drug use

Several law enforcement agencies are partnering with community groups in Middletown for a two-day event dedicated to reducing drug use and drug-related deaths in the area.

Operation Bridge combines increased law enforcement efforts to seize illegal drugs and arrest those responsible for supplying them, with outreach efforts to connect those struggling with addiction with resources.

On the first day, officials said they arrested nine people and seized nearly 80 grams of fentanyl. The DEA said just two milligrams can be lethal.

"While that's going on, we have folks in a different location and they're focused on people that suffer from substance use disorder," said Dick Meadows with the Ohio Department of Public Safety. "They're out there providing resources and trying to get them into treatment."

That's what was happening at Damon Park both Wednesday and Thursday.

"The best way to do that is have all of the services at one event," said Victoria Hensley with The Hope Line.

For her, this work is personal because she lost her mom, sister and brother to overdoses.

"You know you're gonna get that phone call," Hensley said. "It's just when are you gonna get that phone call."

She doesn't want others to get the phone call she did, so she started working with the Hope Line and the Butler County Quick Response Team.

It's made up of a police officer, a care coordinator and a paramedic who respond to overdose calls, and then connect people with their recovery by connecting them with resources.

"I will be here ... however many times it takes," Hensley said.

That's her message to anyone struggling with addiction.

She helped organize the event at Damon Park and was there Wednesday and Thursday, helping to get people into treatment if that's what they wanted.

Other resources like the BMV and Ohio Means Jobs were at the park too, to help people to get their license back or find a job.

While it was just a two-day event, Hensley said the Quick Response team will work to continue the momentum.

"We're going to keep being out in the community," said Hensley. "People need resources and they need them brought to them."