Heroin’s fatal attraction

Responding to deadly overdoses, community combats abuse

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When three people in Oceanside died of drug overdoses just weeks ago, it wasn’t all over the news. But a Dec. 1 post from Gilat Nahum, an administrator of the New Yorkers STOP Drug and Crime Facebook page, informed the public of what happened. “There have been three OD deaths in Oceanside in the past 48 hours,” Nahum wrote. “Seems to be a bad batch of heroin in the area. If you are using, please stop, seek help. We are here to help you.”

The Facebook page, which was created in July 2015 to warn residents of a series of robberies in Oceanside, has become more than just a hub for social media posts. It is the online outlet run by members of the Christopher Pilato Foundation, named for a 25-year-old Oceanside resident who died of a heroin overdose in 2014.

“I was very mad, and in a turn of anger, I decided to do good with it,” Christopher’s brother, Toby, said. “Within two weeks I formed a nonprofit foundation.”

That group garnered more than $11,000 on GoFundMe.com, and has held large fundraisers the past two Octobers. All donations go straight to aiding people, Pilato said, and the foundation has helped about 12 addicts — without money or insurance coverage — get into a rehabilitation center.

Eric McIntire, a former heroin and crack addict who is now a recovery support coordinator for RWJBarnabas Health’s Institute for Prevention in New Jersey, said he is 13 years into recovery, and has turned his life around. Nahum said the group’s Facebook page often receives messages from families seeking help for loved ones struggling with addiction, and that McIntire is one of her main resources.

He connected with the Christopher Pilato Foundation through one of its board members, Paul Tucci, and helps addicts throughout the tri-state area get placed in proper rehabilitation facilities.

“I give them a couple horror stories that I personally went through, which usually they can relate with,” McIntire said, “and then I explain the life that I live today, and let them know that they, too, have a shot at that.”

According to Pilato, the heroin epidemic began in the mid-1990s, when it became tougher for young addicts to get prescription drugs. Many resorted to heroin, which was cheaper and easy to find on the street.

In 2015, a total of 66 people died of heroin overdoses throughout Nassau County, and 29 more fell victim to the lethal opioid in the first half of last year, according to police. The remaining statistics for 2016 are scheduled for release next month. Additionally, there were 22 heroin-related arrests last year in Oceanside, and eight in neighboring Island Park.

The Oceanside Fire Department responded to roughly 40 overdoses in 2016, according to Chief Kevin Klein, with about a dozen proving fatal. About half were heroin users, he said, ranging in age from their 20s to their 60s.

“It’s very random. It’s all over the place,” Klein said. “Some of the houses, you walk in and they’re beautiful. Others ,you walk in and they’re run down. It’s men, women, young, old. It’s everybody and it’s all over the town. I’ve lived in Oceanside my whole life, and I’ve never seen anything like it before.”

Aside from the three overdoses at the end of November, Klein said, the department responded to another fatal one a few weeks ago, which was the third overdose that had occurred in the house they visited. The OFD arrived on the scene of another on New Year’s Day, as a loved one saved a man who overdosed with Narcan, a medication that blocks the effects of opioids.

“It doesn’t give me a lot of hope for things to curtail … this year,” Klein said of the most recent incident, “but last year was probably the worst I’ve ever seen it in my time in the Fire Department, without question.”

Pilato said that the foundation is currently building a website and applying for grants, and its ultimate goal is to open a recreation center in Oceanside to act as a safe haven for recovering drug addicts. The center would have licensed volunteers teaching courses to parents of suspected addicts, parents who have lost their child to drugs and addicts themselves. The funds for such a facility may not be available for at least two more years, however, Pilato added.

For now, the group continues to help those who are struggling, like board member Joseph Zingale’s brother, who was addicted to heroin. With the help of Pilato and McIntire, he was placed in a rehab center in New Jersey, and is recovering. The foundation’s board also includes current detective Brian Driscoll and retired detective Tommy Marrone.

State Sen. Todd Kaminsky co-sponsored legislation that took effect on Jan. 1,  prohibiting the need for prior authorization for inpatient treatment and medications and requires insurance companies to cover the cost of overdose-reversal medication.

Despite the legislation, Zingale said, the epidemic is too large to tackle at once, and the group is focused on helping one person at a time.

“In my mind, we’re helping the little people,” he said, “because we’re fighting battles. We’re not winning the war.”

Steven Dodge, 25, a 2008 graduate of Oceanside High School, said he got addicted to painkillers after breaking his hand in ninth grade, and later used heroin, which led to “an emotional rock bottom.” He has since become a credentialed alcoholism and substance abuse counselor, and started the SLATE Project, a nonprofit designed to prevent drug and alcohol abuse.

Dodge began speaking with adolescents in local schools, and is now educating people from all over the tri-state area. Much like the Christopher Pilato Foundation, he helps guide people into treatment. “The more I hear about deaths and overdoses and all this, it just [gives] me more motivation and drive to limit those numbers,” Dodge said. “… I like to believe that I’ve made it pretty clear that I’m in this community and here to help.”

Pilato said that although the group has grown to help people around New York and in other states, there is a special focus on combating the issue in Oceanside, where Pilato and many of the group members’ children will grow up. Many have already started down the path to recovery, which keeps those involved motivated to urge more people to reach out so they can help them.

“They get mothers calling them, saying, ‘Thank you. You saved my son’s life,’ and then they’ll let me know,” McIntire said. “Just hearing that is worth it a million times over.”