The Sullivan County Veterans Service Agency provides vital support and services to our local community of men and women who have served their country.    It is one of the highest responsibilities of government to be able to help those who have worn their country’s uniform once they come home and start to transition to the next chapter of their lives. 

News came last week that Stephen Walsh has been appointed as the new director of the Sullivan County Veterans Service Agency. A Liberty resident, veteran and long-time business owner, Walsh has worked as a Veterans Service Officer for the past nine years. We’d like to take a moment to congratulate Walsh on his new role! Given his background and years of experience helping our veterans and their families, we know he will do well leading the agency forward. 

We’d also like to thank former Director John Crotty for his many years with the county’s Veterans Service Agency and congratulate him on his well-deserved retirement. 

Treatment Unit 

As the Democrat reported on Tuesday, health officials and community members gathered last week to cut the ribbon on the Lexington Center for Recovery’s new, outpatient opiate treatment medication unit in Monticello. 

This new treatment unit, which is a satellite clinic of the Lexington Center for Recovery’s Poughkeepsie Office, provides methadone treatment to those struggling with opioid addiction. 

Unfortunately the opioid epidemic has continued to plague our county and our region. According to New York State Comptroller Thomas DiNapoli, drug overdose fatalities surged during the COVID-19 pandemic in New York state, with opioid-related overdose deaths increasing by 68 percent to nearly 5,000 individuals from 2019 to 2021. 

DiNapoli says the surge is largely due to a sharp increase in deaths from opioids related to illicit fentanyl and similar synthetic opioids. Furthermore, overdose deaths statewide from opioids and all drugs (5,841) in 2021 surpassed the previous 2017 peak by more than 1,700 fatalities.

While it can be a controversial topic, having a medication unit in Sullivan County will help increase access to treatment for those who desperately need it without having to travel outside the county. 

Under the supervision of trained medical professionals, more people have the opportunity to begin the road to recovery that will help end the opioid epidemic.