When someone is struggling with mental health or substance abuse issues, they may feel as if nobody cares what happens to them. Pickerington’s own J.D. Postage and Scott Duff, directors of the Fairfield County Overdose Response Team (FORT), make it their personal mission to prove them wrong.
An Empathetic Approach
I met with Duff and Postage at Porters Coffee House, and before we began our discussion, Duff eagerly debriefed Postage on the status of a local unhoused woman showing signs of mental distress and drug use. The two have been offering support to her for quite awhile, but she hadn't been receptive to it.
They explained that, addiction, like any other mental illnesses is often brought on by trauma, unstable living conditions or simply a loss of hope. They don’t discuss the situation as if the woman is a nuisance or a troublemaker. Rather, they try to understand her situation and act with genuine care and respect.
Photo by Maisie Fitzmaurice
J.D. Postage (left) and Scott Duff (right)
They have found that if they are able to understand someone better, they can better help them recover.
“What we try to do with it today is walk through that process, talking about the first few times that they were using it, why? Why did they pick up that syringe? What got them to where they’re at and see what we can do to help them deal with that,” Postage says.
Postage, Violet Township’s community paramedic, and Duff, a retired law enforcement officer, have been running FORT for over five years. When someone in the area recovers from an overdose, they visit the person in recovery at their home within 48 hours to offer support. Sometimes the person accepts the help and sometimes they don’t, but Postage and Duff are always there to answer the call if and when they’re ready to talk.
“So say law enforcement pulls somebody over for a busted taillight and they find a little dope in there, or maybe a syringe, that person may say, ‘Yeah, you know what, I’d like to get some help,’ boom, they’ll call me and we’ll go right out to the scene,” Duff says.
Postage and Duff don’t see people with addiction as criminals. Instead, they sympathize with the person’s unique situation and help them get back on their feet rather than punishing them.
“I say let him or her go through the treatment process, see how they do, and then we can figure out something after that,” Duff says. “I mean, if you put a charge on him, it’s going to make it difficult for him to get a job. That’s all we want to do. We want to make sure that they get their life back.”
Making an Impact
The program has already led to a number of inspiring recovery stories. One man who was struggling with drug addiction connected with Postage and Duff, and has now been in recovery for more than five years. He is now a full-time fireman in central Ohio.
“He was one of our first ones, so if we hadn’t been at his house that day, because of some of the things that were going on with him, he may not have been around anymore,” Duff says. “But, he went to fireman school and medic school and finished first in his class.”
Apart from responding to calls, Postage and Duff also encourage harm reduction practices by distributing Narcan as well as food boxes and blankets whenever they can. With help from other local organizations, they’ve been able to offer free bus passes, gas cards and even minor car repairs, all to help those having a tough time get back on their feet and reclaim their independence.
The Narcan distributed by Postage and Duff has already saved the life of at least one community member who was overdosing.
Looking for resources for an older adult in your life?
The Pickerington Area Chamber of Commerce is hosting its Downsizing & Senior Care Expo on Saturday, March 23 from 10 a.m.-3 p.m. at the Wigwam Event Center. The expo features many companies, organizations and industries that serve older adults and caregivers. It features several informative sessions on downsizing, caring for aging loved ones, assistance and planning services, and other support options. Admission is free to the public.
The 411 on 2-1-1 and 9-8-8
Fairfield County 2-1-1 Executive Director Jeaneatte Curtis (left) and Board President Desi DeJohn (right)
Postage says many of the people he helps daily as a paramedic aren’t addicted to drugs but are older adults who have fallen on hard times. With no caretaker in the home, many of them start to neglect their health and decide not to take their medication.
“I get my referrals from doctor’s offices, health care systems, complex managers, churches, people themselves, neighbors, it doesn’t really matter,” Postage says. “As we get older, we just need more resources and there is sometimes limited understanding of what’s out there and what’s available to them.”
Thankfully, Postage and Duff have a plethora of organizations they work with and refer people to. The network of organizations, non-profits, medical personnel, law enforcement and philanthropic churches in the area is tight-knit, and they work together every day to make sure the community gets the resources it needs.
One such resource is Fairfield County 2-1-1, a “one-stop shop” call center that listens to an individual’s needs and connects them with organizations that can help.
“I don’t know if you’ve ever worked with someone who tried to navigate any type of social service need, whether it’s getting food benefits or going to a food pantry, it can be super confusing,” Jeannette Curtis, executive director at Fairfield County 2-1-1, says.
“So if folks call 2-1-1 and tell us, ‘Hey, I need to get some food,’ it’s easy enough for us to look up the information, tell them where to go, when to go, the address, what they need to take with them," Curtis says. "They know what to expect when they get there because asking for help is hard enough, they don’t need to have that unknown, or get hit with something unexpected.”
Curtis and her team also answer Fairfield County area calls to 9-8-8, a nationally recognized mental health crisis line.
In 2023, Fairfield County 2-1-1 and 9-8-8 answered over 75,000 crisis calls. An estimated 25,000 of these were regarding food insecurity.
“We will never define what a crisis is,” Curtis says. “One call may be a suicidal teenager and the next call might be a single dad trying to figure out how he’s going to feed his kids tomorrow. So we don’t ever define what a crisis is and people are free to call the crisis line for any reason whatsoever. Sometimes older adults find themselves lonely and they just need to hear a friendly voice. We do that too.”
Aside from crisis care, the team leads other initiatives to help those in need. One of these initiatives is a birthday bag program, which provides a free kit with everything a family needs to celebrate their child’s birthday. The bags include cake baking supplies, small gifts, candles, sprinkles, decorations and a card.
Not every situation is an easy fix. For families living at or below the poverty line, expenses can add up and snowball into much larger issues. The 2-1-1 team problem solves and does what it can to offer support, and encourages families to reach out as soon as they feel tough times may be ahead.
“I don’t have a referral that’s going to help make your car payment, but how about I get you into some food pantries and give you a referral to help pay your electric bill and free up that money in your budget to put it toward your car payment?” Curtis says.
Maisie Fitzmaurice is an editor at CityScene Media Group. Feedback welcome at mfitzmaurice@cityscenemediagroup.com.
