Partners in Health & Wholeness

An initiative of the NC Council of Churches

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Overdose Crisis

A Clergy’s Call to Confronting Opioid Overdose

By Rev. Dr. Arlecia Simmons, Partners in Health and Wholeness East Regional Associate Director

My neighborhood is interesting, and you never know what to expect when you walk out the door.  I thought nothing could surprise me until one Saturday this summer, around 7:30 a.m.  I noticed a young man passed out in a car with the door open and one leg on the ground. When I approached the […]

A Clergy’s Call to Confronting Opioid Overdose

· by Rev. Dr. Arlecia Simmons, Partners in Health and Wholeness East Regional Associate Director

My neighborhood is interesting, and you never know what to expect when you walk out the door.  I thought nothing could surprise me until one Saturday this summer, around 7:30 a.m.  I noticed a young man passed out in a car with the door open and one leg on the ground. When I approached the […]

Ministry Along I-95 Requires New Tools for Clergy

By Rev. Dr. Arlecia Simmons, Partners in Health and Wholeness East Regional Associate Director

Within a few weeks of starting in my position at the Council, I met Cape Fear Valley Health Community Paramedic Chris Dudley at a health resource event in Fayetteville. Unlike the other vendors offering gifts of hand sanitizer, mints, and pens, Dudley and a coworker greeted guests with a table that contained pink, white, and […]

Ministry Along I-95 Requires New Tools for Clergy

· by Rev. Dr. Arlecia Simmons, Partners in Health and Wholeness East Regional Associate Director

Within a few weeks of starting in my position at the Council, I met Cape Fear Valley Health Community Paramedic Chris Dudley at a health resource event in Fayetteville. Unlike the other vendors offering gifts of hand sanitizer, mints, and pens, Dudley and a coworker greeted guests with a table that contained pink, white, and […]

International Overdose Awareness Day

By Elizabeth Brewington, Overdose Response Program Coordinator

August 31st is International Overdose Awareness day. It is a day to remember those we have lost to overdose and to raise awareness on evidence-based practices to prevent overdoses like overdose prevention centers and overdose reversal medication such as Naloxone and Narcan. According to the North Carolina Department of Health and Human Services (NCDHHS), an average of nine North Carolinians died each day from a drug overdose in 2020.  Each one […]

International Overdose Awareness Day

· by Elizabeth Brewington, Overdose Response Program Coordinator

August 31st is International Overdose Awareness day. It is a day to remember those we have lost to overdose and to raise awareness on evidence-based practices to prevent overdoses like overdose prevention centers and overdose reversal medication such as Naloxone and Narcan. According to the North Carolina Department of Health and Human Services (NCDHHS), an average of nine North Carolinians died each day from a drug overdose in 2020.  Each one […]

Spotlight: Olive Branch Ministry

By Lindsay Barth, Event Coordinator & PHW Communications Associate

HICKORY, NC — Founded by the Rev. Michelle Mathis and her wife Karen Lowe, Olive Branch Ministry is a faith-based harm reduction agency covering nine counties in the foothills and piedmont of North Carolina. The ministry which includes  a syringe exchange program, post overdose response team, homeless outreach and a holistic harm reduction center continues […]

Spotlight: Olive Branch Ministry

· by Lindsay Barth, Event Coordinator & PHW Communications Associate

HICKORY, NC — Founded by the Rev. Michelle Mathis and her wife Karen Lowe, Olive Branch Ministry is a faith-based harm reduction agency covering nine counties in the foothills and piedmont of North Carolina. The ministry which includes  a syringe exchange program, post overdose response team, homeless outreach and a holistic harm reduction center continues […]