meanwhile a different form of Crisis help is being delivered directly and on Wheels to South Jersey communities in need a mobile Outreach vehicle is being dispatched throughout Atlantic County in hopes of boosting recovery and support services for people struggling with addiction Advocates tell Ted Goldberg the unit is one crucial way to break through stigma and other barriers preventing families from getting care three two one this approach works but unfortunately unfortunately we've learned that there are just as many people and possibly even more with a substance use disorder that never will access services in a brick and mortar facility like this thanks to a Federal Grant and state funding this van it's really a health care facility on Wheels we'll provide health care services for people in Egg Harbor Pleasantville Galloway and Atlantic City originally it's accommodated for people to travel to you know use for families recreational use so we needed really to reconfigure it for medical to provide medical services to provide Behavioral Health Services this van received three hundred thousand dollars in upgrades and will serve a variety of patients who may not be able to reach the John Brooks Recovery Center one of the things that we have is a exam room so we have to you know have a place for an exam table sinks we have an area where we can meet privately with individuals to do recovery coaching case management Services Behavioral Health Services there's Refrigeration there's a sink there's a bathroom here we can do counseling and evaluation for mental health for substance use it's not exactly a New Concept in New Jersey to have Vans or buses provide mobile Health Care the difference here is the sheer depth of services offered by this converted RV here in South Jersey we can also distribute medications like Narcan and naloxone to help people deal with their addiction problems and to prevent overdose this bus is going to touch I mean hundreds and thousands of people and this is the service that we needed to go out in the community because a lot of people don't like to come out Keith Strickland has worked as a recovery specialist here for two years I love my work I love my work man he's been clean for five years and says a van like this could have made a huge difference when he was younger and addicted to drugs and alcohol maybe the young kids today maybe we need a van like this to go around and to talk to them as well you know well we we're going to be giving Services out to him but maybe we can still give out some guidance to these young kids when they see the van I think it's a good idea excellent and like um you know some people can't make it to the facility so I think it's good that John Brooks came up with bringing it to the community Christine Davenport will be the first person to take this health care center for a spin I'm very excited it's a new program um we're going to go out in the community and try to out reach as many people as possible a similar van is being introduced in Essex County in the near future in May's Landing I'm Ted Goldberg NJ Spotlight news [Music]