Norwich — If they're still breathing, there's hope.

When somebody overdoses on heroin and is treated in the emergency room at The William W. Backus Hospital, they speak to an outreach worker before they leave.   

It's one of the steps members the Norwich Heroin Task Force, comprising social services agencies, health care providers, police and others are taking as they try to get a handle on the growing number of heroin and opiate-addicted residents in the region.

More than 120 people attended a forum on the growing public health crisis Thursday, with presentations from social workers, doctors and addiction specialists and parents of addicted children.

Karen Butterworth-Erban, regional director of emergency services for Hartford Healthcare, said that as the number of overdose patients doubled in 2014 and 2015, emergency room staff at Backus and its affiliates in Plainfield and Willimantic realized they weren't doing much to follow up with overdose patients, who usually feel fine after they are treated with Narcan.

Since July 2015, a mobile outreach crisis worker from the Department of Mental Health and Addiction Services has been visiting those patients at bedside and following up with them the next day, she said.

"They say, 'This is what happened. You almost died today. What are you going to do about it?' '' Butterworth-Erban said.

Like kicking an opiate or heroin addiction, it doesn't always work the first time. But Butterworth-Erban said the outreach workers continued to speak with those who come back a second or third time.

Angela Duhaime, community educator with Southeastern Regional Action Council said a survey Norwich students in grades seven through 12 found the use of prescription drugs was higher than the use of marijuana.

Dr. Ramindra Walia, chief medical officer for United Community and Family Services, appealed to parents to safeguard their prescription drugs, and not have drugs like marijuana available in the home.

But Walia also acknowledged that doctors and nurse practitioners are at the forefront of the prescripton drug problem. He said in medical school, he only had two or three classes on the subject.

"The MDs and APRNs are in the forefront of this," Walia said. "We are writing prescriptions for this."

He said asking why doctors aren't better trained in prescription medications is "one of the little things that can start the revolution."

"And believe me, we do need a revolution," he said.

Joe de la Cruz of Groton, a founding member of Community Speaks Out, said he had been waiting to hear a doctor say what Walia said.

His son, Joey Gingerella, is in recovery and has been opiate-free since August 2015, but many pill users move on to heroin, the cheaper and more readily available opiate alternative.

"What shocked me when my son was using prescription opiates is that I saw that we had been tricked," de la Cruz said. "We've been  asking for two years to change the name of Percocet to Heroin, Level 1 and the name of Oxycontin to Heroin, Level 2. I guarantee you any parent is not going to give their kid heroin for their toothache."

Jack Malone, executive director of the Southeastern Council on Alcohol and Drug Dependency, said that insurance companies don't provide appropriate coverage for rehabiliation programs and aftercare programs because the public does not voice its outrage like it did when insurers wanted women to go home the same day they had a baby or a mastectomy.

"The outrage from the community was so large and so fast and so quick that legislators across the country told the insurance companies to change the law."

Hearing Malone speak, Duhaime and others decided to develop a form letter that people could send to their legislators to request action.

Malone, a former state representative, said also that the government has failed the people, since heroin, which is grown and made out of the country, is distributed in every community in the nation.

"It's an underground economy," he said. "It's not pounds of heroin that are coming into this nation. It's tons of heroin."

William Gilbert, director of operations at Catholic Charities, said one of the things the community could do right away is understand that addiction is a disease and not begrudge somebody who relapses.

"We have to understand they have a disease and they can be helped as often and frequently and compassionately as those who have any other disease," he said.

Lisa Cote Johns, whose son Christopher Johns died of a heroin overdose Oct. 2, 2014, said it is her "newfound job" to educate and prevent any child from becoming addicted.

She is a member of Community Speaks Out, a Groton-based grass roots group that runs support groups, helps parents find treatment programs and even distributes Narcan, the antidote to overdose.

"Never give up on your child, so long as they're breathing," Johns told the gathering.  

The state Department of Mental Health and Addiction services this week launched a toll-free number — 1-800-563-4086 — for state residents to call if they or their loved ones need treatment for opioid addiction.

On the Web, people can get information from www.ct.gov/dmhas/walkins.

Also Thursday, the U.S. Senate passed the Comprehensive Addiction Recovery Act, which if passed into law would fund treatment efforts and access to overdose-prevention drugs, strengthen consumer education about opioid abuse and provide follow-up services to people who have received overdose reversal drugs.

The Senate has also passed legislation to prevent pill-seeking patients from doctor shopping and devote more funding to law enforcement efforts to combat drug trafficking.

The forum, which organizers said was the beginning of an ongoing conversation, was sponsored by NFA, Norwich Human Services, Norwich Heroin Task Force and Norwich Prevention Council, NFA Prevention Council.

Editor's note: this version clarifies the date of the death of Christopher Johns.

k.florin@theday.com