FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
Contact: Isabella Nowak, PAARI Public Relations – isabella@paariusa.org
MONTGOMERY COUNTY, OH – May 22, 2025 – The Police Assisted Addiction and Recovery Initiative (PAARI) is pleased to announce the next installment in its Partner Spotlight webinar series. The May event will highlight the work of the Montgomery County, Ohio, Quick Response Team (QRT). The public is invited to attend this virtual event on Tuesday, May 27, at 3:00 p.m. EST via Zoom.
The Montgomery County QRT operates under a public health framework to address addiction and overdose in Dayton and Montgomery County. Housed within Montgomery County Public Health, the QRT responds to overdoses and provides outreach services to individuals experiencing addiction.
In early 2024, Montgomery County Public Health collaborated with data partners Cordata Healthcare and Ascend Innovations to analyze QRT engagement data. The findings were compelling, with early results suggesting that QRT engagement is associated with reduced overdose deaths, fewer emergency room visits, lower overall healthcare costs, and decreased overdose-related interactions with local law enforcement.
In this webinar, attendees will learn about Montgomery County’s approach to overdose response, hear about how its partnerships with health systems have evolved, and see the preliminary data analysis results.
Speakers will include:
- Kelly Firesheets, PsyD, Vice President, Strategy and Partnerships, Cordata Healthcare
- Dawn Schwartz, Project Manager, Community Overdose Action Team, Public Health – Dayton and Montgomery County
- Casey Smith MPH, CHES, Director of Account and Project Management, Ascend Innovations
“I was honored to present our work at PAARI’s Summit in February, and I’m excited to share our program with those who couldn’t attend in Tampa,” said Dawn Schwartz. “We want outreach teams to see that deflection can take many forms and involve a wide range of partners, not just law enforcement.”
“We’re excited to highlight the impactful and innovative work happening in Montgomery County,” said Brittney Garrett, PAARI’s Senior Director of Public Safety Strategy and Engagement. “The valuable insights from their data analysis will be incredibly informative and inspiring for our partners.”
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ABOUT PAARI: The Police Assisted Addiction & Recovery Initiative (PAARI) is a nonprofit organization with a mission to help law enforcement agencies nationwide create deflection programs. Founded alongside the groundbreaking Gloucester, Mass., Police Department Angel Initiative in June 2015, PAARI has been a driving force behind this rapidly expanding community policing movement. We provide technical assistance, strategic guidance, connection to training resources, and other capacity-building resources to more than 800 police departments in 46 states.
PAARI works with more than 160 law enforcement agencies in Massachusetts alone. PAARI and our law enforcement partners are working towards a collective vision where diversion and deflection programs become a standard policing practice across the country, thereby reducing overdose deaths, expanding access to treatment, improving public safety, reducing crime, diverting people away from the criminal justice system, and increasing trust between law enforcement and their communities. Our programs and partners have saved tens of thousands of lives, changed police culture, and reshaped the national conversation about the opioid epidemic since its founding in June 2015. Learn more at paariusa.org.
ABOUT MONTGOMERY COUNTY QRT: Montgomery County QRT uses a public health framework to address addiction and overdoses in Dayton and Montgomery County, Ohio. Organized in the Montgomery County Public Health Department, the QRT responds to overdose and provides outreach services to support people who are experiencing addiction.
