Emilia Teasdale reports in The Columbia Paper that a researcher at the University of Albany reports that the Chatham Cares 4U program for drug addiction, “has achieved its primary goal of providing direct and immediate access to substance abuse treatment.” The program mostly treats users of opioids, either heroin or prescription medicines. Tomoko Udo, Ph.D., from the University of Albany’s School of Public Health studied the program from July of 2016 to August of 2017 and found that 125 people asked the Chatham Police Station for help ending their substance abuse, and 84 percent of those people entered a treatment facility. “Eighty-four percent is pretty high,” Ms. Udo said. Chatham’s part-time Police Chief Peter Volkmann started the program, encouraging anyone dealing with addiction to approach the Chatham Police about finding them a treatment bed and transportation to a treatment facility. Udo found that 13 percent of participants were uninsured and 54.8 percent were on Medicaid, and 19 percent had never sought treatment before. About 62 percent had no past drug-related arrest history. The CC4U Facebook page is at www.facebook.com/chathamcares4u and the CPR help line is at 877-HOPE-365 (877-467-3365). Read the full story in The Columbia Paper.