Cook County Commissioner Elizabeth “Liz” Doody Gorman is hosting a Heroin Summit Meeting on Wednesday, March 14 at 6 p.m. at the located at 9790 West 151st Street, Orland Park.
Commissioner Gorman stated that “heroin use amongst our high school and junior high school students has been on the rise. There have been reports of ambulance calls in our area at an alarming rate to deal with heroin overdoses. Never have the stakes been so high or the need for action more urgent. This issue has become a major epidemic and needs to be dealt with now.”
The purpose of the summit meeting is to bring together community leaders to brainstorm and come up with realistic strategies that can help parents and their children prevent further tragedy. Those invited include police chiefs, school district officials as well as church leaders. Representatives from School and 230, as well as representatives from the police departments of Western Springs, Palos Park, Westchester and Lemont have already confirmed their attendance.
Commissioner Gorman said “our only hope in saving our young people from the devastation caused by this horrific heroin epidemic is to come together as a community and find solutions to this problem now.”
is also taking a pro-active stance in fighting this epidemic and is hosting a similar meeting the same day, March 14th, at 9 a.m. at the Orland Township Administrative Offices, 14807 Ravinia Avenue. Commissioner Gorman and Orland Township officials hope to join forces after these initial meetings and form one task force to fight this terrifying problem.
Although this initial summit is technically not open to the public, input is being sought from all community leaders who can assist in helping to save our most treasured asset, our youth. As this task force develops definitive strategies it intends to seek the public’s input at open forums.
