WORCESTER, Mass. — The city of Worcester is trying a new way to combat the opioid crisis.
They've started a citizen's initiative program to help police with the ongoing issue.
Through the Worcester Program for Addiction Recovery, volunteers spend six weeks going through intense training - and then they go along with police as they respond to overdose calls, and provide support and outreach to the victims and their families.
The hope is the drug users will relate more to an average citizen than the police, and may agree to get help.
For some of these volunteers, the cause is more personal.
Rebecca Zwicker was arrested by Worcester Police six times for drug use - and now, she's working with the department to fight the disease that almost killed her.
"There's not enough community health workers," Zwicker said. "We're exhausted by it, so we have to come together as a community."
The program just trained its first round of volunteers - and now eight citizens will be responding to those calls with police.
They hope to start another group within the next six months.
You can find more information about the program here.
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