Island Health & Wellness Foundation is hosting a special public meeting on Wednesday, July 17, 2019 at 6:30 pm. Gordon Smith, Governor Janet Mills’ new Director of Opiate Response, will be at The Reach Performing Arts Center to share the latest details on how the State is addressing substance use and take questions and answers from the audience. Everyone is invited and encouraged to attend.

Anne West, Executive Director of Island Health & Wellness Foundation, explains, “Many organizations here on our Island have been working together to address substance use among Islanders for a few years now.  We felt with the attention that Governor Janet Mills has given this important issue during her short time as Maine’s Governor, it was imperative to bring a representative from her office here to see firsthand the cutting-edge work being done and determine how we can work collaboratively to have even greater impact. As soon as we reached out to Mr. Smith, he readily and excitedly accepted our invitation to visit.”

Gordon Smith will spend the day on July 17th meeting with the individual organizations involved in this issue, including: Island Health & Wellness Foundation, Opiate Free Island Partnership, CSD #13, Healthy Island Project, Healthy Acadia, Memorial Ambulance and Northern Light Primary Care Stonington.  His day will culminate with a presentation to the public in the evening, which will last approximately one hour and include a question and answer session.

West adds, “The success of Opiate Free Island Partnership in getting funding at both Town meetings this year shows that we understand the severity of this crisis and that everyone has a part to play in addressing it.”

According to a January 24, 2019 press release from Governor Janet Mills’ office at the time of his appointment Smith, 67, formerly served as Executive Vice President of the Maine Medical Association until accepting this new position. A Maine native, he graduated from the University of Maine in 1973 and from the Boston College Law School in 1976. He practiced law privately before coming to the Maine Medical Association as General Counsel in 1981. He is a past Chairman of the American Society of Medical Association Counsel, and the AMA/State Medical Society Litigation Center. Smith has also served as Chair of the Maine Health Data Organization and of the Executive Committee of the Advocacy Resource Center of the American Medical Association. Smith is also a former Chair of the Board of Quality Counts, a regional quality improvement collaborative and a former board member of the Maine Association of Area Agencies on Aging. He is a former board member of the Daniel Hanley Center for Health Leadership. Smith lives in East Winthrop.

For more information about this event, please contact Anne West at ihwf1966@gmail.com or 367-5851. All are invited and no RSVP is necessary.