Why do you want to be a PAARI Pro? “[My team is] experienced in harm reduction; utilization of lived experiences within program development; cross-sector policy, procedure and training opportunities; program evaluation and data collection; and strategic funding opportunities. We are skilled at building such programs in under-resourced, smaller communities. PAARI has been an active force in our program and my hope if to serve others through this role.”
About: Meredith Hurley, RN, MPH, has been the Director of Winthrop Department of Public Health & Clinical Services (WDPH&CS) for the past 11 years applying her expertise to the design and delivery of local public health services including communications, data collection, data reporting, reporting to community members and internal and external stakeholders, and development of survey and evaluation tools. Prior to working in public health, Meredith was an inpatient pediatric neuroscience nurse at Boston Children’s Hospital. As Director of WDPH&CS, she has steadily built Winthrop’s programming and capacity through sustained and expansive cross-sector relationships that are free-of-charge and not dependent on third-party payer systems. Current initiatives of the WDPH&CS led Meredith focus on vaccination access, substance use disorder programming, mental health supports, and Intimate Partner Violence (IPV) programming. Meredith was integral to the establishment, and success of, the Winthrop Community and Law Enforcement Assisted Recovery (C.L.E.A.R.) Program, which is co-led with the Winthrop Police Department (WPD). This program has been recognized nationally by the Department of Defense as a best practice model and WDPH&CS and the WPD currently mentor other states on this model as well as promote it at national conferences and in testimonies to Congress. For example, Meredith participates as a mentor in two separate mentor programs. The first is through the Department of Justice, Bureau of Justice Assistance Comprehensive Opioid, Stimulant, and Substance Abuse Program (COSSAP) and provides mentorship to public safety agencies across the country to build peer recovery systems similar to the Winthrop C.L.E.A.R. Program. Winthrop is one of eight identified mentors in the current program. Second, Winthrop acts as a mentor to local health departments in Alabama and Michigan through the National Association of City and County Health Officers (NACCHO) Health Equity and Overdose Prevention (HEOP) Mentorship Program. In this role, WDPH&CS is providing guidance and technical assistance to expand capacity for overdose prevention programming, also based on the C.L.E.A.R. Program model. Meredith also facilitates the Winthrop Crisis Intervention Team (CIT)/Jail Diversion Program with WPD.
