What It Takes: On the job training for Maine’s first Opioid Response director to coordinate the state’s effort to slow the epidemic requires “learning the patience necessary to work within the bureaucracy of state government.” Alarming Statistic: Maine’s opioid crisis claims an average of more than one life every day. Plan of Attack: The purchase of 34,000 units of anti-overdose medication and the training of 250 recovery coaches plus a full-time recovery coach in ten emergency departments across the state. Goal: To stem the tide by facilitating the movement of more people into treatment programs.
1976
Gordon Smith ’76
Gordon H. Smith was appointed by Maine Governor Janet Mills as the state’s first director of Opioid Response. His first action in this position, which is housed within the new Office of Innovation and the Future, was the establishment of the Prevention and Recovery Cabinet, which convened in April. He is the former executive vice president of the Maine Medical Association, on which he has served for forty-four years.
