'We help people with addiction': Elk Grove puts Narcan dispenser in police department lobby

Elk Grove Village is opening new lanes on the road to recovery for community members struggling with substance abuse.

Elk Grove Village Cares, an innovative program launched in 2018 to tackle opioid addiction in the community, is expanding to serve people ages 12 to 17, Mayor Craig Johnson announced Sunday.

Previously, the services had been available only to those ages 18 and older.

“Most addictions start at high school age and even younger,” Johnson said. “So we want to get them at the youngest age.”

Village officials Sunday also unveiled a new Narcan-dispensing machine in the police department lobby, which will provide free doses of the overdose-reversing medication to the public 24 hours a day, seven days a week.

The machine holds 54 units of Narcan and will be maintained by the Kenneth Young Center, an Elk Grove-based organization that provides mental health and addiction recovery services.

“Our officers that work behind that counter 24/7 are trained to help people and assist them in fighting the disease of addiction,” Johnson said. “They will come out here and say, ‘Do you need any help?' ‘Do you need any assistance?'”

Since it began five years ago, Elk Grove Village Cares has assisted 175 people struggling with addiction, officials say. Under the initiative, anyone seeking treatment can go to the police department without fear of arrest and be connected with treatment services.

“We don't just say, ‘Oh, you need help? Go there.' Or, ‘You need help? Here's a phone number,'” Johnson said. “We take you in. We sit with you. We find you a place to put you in for inpatient care, outpatient care. Whatever your level of need is, we find it for you.”

Those efforts received another boost Sunday with the announcement that the village will be receiving $500,000 in federal funds to help fund its expansion to younger ages.

Congressman Raja Krishnamoorthi was on hand Sunday to pass a large symbolic check to Johnson.

“You've made a profound difference, not only in those 175 lives, but the lives of countless people that they touch, that they are related to, that they are friends with and people that love them,” the Schaumburg Democrat said. “You could have easily locked them up and thrown away the key. But instead, I believe that you felt that the key to reducing crime is to help people recover, redeem themselves, and help to unlock their potential to contribute to the community.”

Johnson was inspired to start the program when he encountered a 22-year-old man he had once coached in wrestling who was suffering from heroin addiction.

He noted that the program's work with individuals doesn't end when they go into treatment. Village social service workers continue to work with the person for months, or even years, with employment, housing and other services.

“Here in Elk Grove, we don't arrest people with addiction. We help people with addiction,” Johnson said.