By Amber Angove-For the North Star Reporter
Anne Marie Fleming, director and public health nurse for the Health Department, presented an update on the town’s Opioid Task Force to the Town Council at last Monday’s meeting.
The North Attleborough Opioid Task Force Progress Report provides a look at efforts to address the impacts of the opioid crisis and how opioid settlement funds are being invested in the community. The report covers the task force’s work from October 2024 through June 2026, and is now available to the public on the town’s website.
Borg explained that the task force was created in response to what he described as a previously “reactive” approach to opioid-related incidents, emphasizing the importance of preparing for overdoses and substance misuse before they occur.
“It could be another overdose from someone who is suffering and we want to prevent that,” Borg said.
Fleming said the task force has been working with other communities to identify programs aimed at reaching students before they develop substance use or opioid use disorders. The group has also surveyed residents and people directly affected by substance use to better understand the community’s needs and determine what resources and programs would be most effective.
The task force’s formation
The task force was formed in October 2024 to identify and recommend community programs related to opioid use prevention, treatment, recovery and harm reduction and support those programs through opioid abatement funds.
In an announcement on Thursday, Borg said conversations with area officials prompted the town to examine not only how it responded to opioid-related incidents, but how it could intervene earlier and potentially prevent future crises.
“What I put before the team was: How do we get left of the event? In the military, we call it ‘left of bang,’” Borg said in the announcement. “How do we get ahead of the next event that might happen?”
That shift toward a more proactive approach helped shape the task force, with community input playing a central role in identifying where intervention and resources were needed. Outreach was conducted with residents of sober homes, nonprofit organizations, treatment providers and other community stakeholders to better understand barriers to recovery. An Opioid Community Impact Survey saw responses from 236 residents.
“Last year, the town completed outreach to identify barriers to recovery from opioid use disorder,” Human Services Coordinator Stephen Berdos said in the announcement. “We met with residents at sober homes, colleagues from nonprofits and treatment centers and other community stakeholders to get their perspectives. We also heard from many concerned parents and guardians who let us know how the town should prioritize opioid abatement community programming.”
Benefits to the community
The report highlights both the programs supported through abatement funds and the results of that work, including:
- Opioid Impact Fund Grant Program—The town spent approximately $40,500 in FY26 through the program, providing assistance to individuals impacted by the opioid crisis as well as sober homes and community organizations.
- Co-response mental health clinician—During the first three months included in the report, the program recorded 109 co-response interactions, 47 crisis evaluations and 62 outreach services. The clinician helped divert 25 individuals from emergency room visits and 11 from arrests, representing an estimated $147,234 in combined cost savings.
- Narcan training—In partnership with the SAFE Coalition, the town offered Narcan training for municipal employees, school staff and the public, attended by 56 participants.
- Youth prevention and education—Opioid abatement funds supported several youth-focused initiatives. The town invested $4,500 in the WhyTry program for students ages 14 to 18, $3,200 for 2nd Act performances at North Attleborough middle and high schools and $7,900 for a peer mediation program at NAHS.
- Reducing stigma through storytelling—The town invested approximately $5,553 in a partnership with The Opioid Project and Health Story Collaborative. Through the initiative, six residents impacted by the opioid crisis created original artwork reflecting perspectives that included lived experience, first responders and frontline workers.
- Behavioral health resources—The town continued funding the INTERFACE Referral Service to help connect residents with outpatient mental health and wellness resources. Twenty residents accessed the service between January and June 2026, according to the report.
“Writing this report was my opportunity to show our community what their advocacy accomplished,” Berdos said in the announcement. “The Opioid Task Force was given clear feedback on where the gaps in services were, and we worked on addressing those issues. There is still a lot of work to be done, but we have accomplished a lot in a short amount of time due to strong collaborative partnerships with community stakeholders.”
The report also provides residents with a financial overview of the town’s use of opioid abatement funds. North Attleborough began receiving funds from opioid-related legal settlements in 2023 and is expected to continue receiving distributions through 2038. As of February 2025, the town had received $735,000 in opioid abatement funds.
The report states that North Attleborough is expected to receive approximately $1.72 million over the next 14 years, with an average annual distribution of approximately $122,627. Under the Massachusetts State Subdivision Agreement, opioid abatement funds must be used for projects related to prevention, treatment, recovery or harm reduction.
Material from the Town of North Attleborough was used in this reporting.