LIVINGSTON COUNTY:
Sheriff Thomas J. Dougherty announces that the Sheriff’s Office
initiative H.E.R.O (Heroin Education, Resisting Opiates) program was
successfully presented at the Dansville High School on Thursday February 16,
2017.
Students from Dansville, York, and Keshequa Schools were
present to participate in the program. The program consists of presentations
from the Counsel on Alcohol and Substance Abuse, a recovering addict, an EMS
mock medical scene, a Livingston County Jail inmate, and parents who have lost
children to heroin.
This program was launched as a pilot last year with
Dansville Central School and was fully implemented this year. This is only the second presentation since
the H.E.R.O program birth but has already reached over 450 students at upper
grade levels.
The Sheriff’s Office would like to thank the Dansville
Central School District for their continued partnership; York and Keshequa
Schools for allowing their students to participate; Livingston County EMS; CASA
of Livingston County; the unnamed inmate who shared his story of addiction in
hopes that it could change the path of others; and the parents who have lost
their loved ones to heroin addiction who are willing to share their
stories.
“We are doing our best to educate our youth on the dangers
of opiates, specifically heroin and the lethal path it takes,” stated Sheriff
Dougherty. “This program is only one
part of our comprehensive plan to combat heroin addiction but is the most
important because it has the ability to prevent it before it starts. That means bringing education and awareness
to these students so they understand the effects it will have on them and the
ripple effect on those that love them.
Our main goal of H.E.R.O is to have the student leave understanding what
heroin is, the common path that leads folks to use heroin, what it will do to
them and ultimately make the decision to not use.”
