BURLINGTON, Vt. (WCAX) – Burlington’s mayor has picked a special assistant to help set up an overdose prevention center in the city.
Theresa Vezina tells us the site will save lives and connect people to services.
It’s not clear yet who will run it or where it will go, but Mayor Emma Mulvaney-Stanak expects the center to be open within a year.
Vermont lawmakers overrode Gov. Phil Scott’s veto of the center which allows for the supervised use of drugs.
The special assistant job to set it up is a part-time position paid for with opioid settlement money. Vezina has more than 23 years of experience in public health and harm reduction, and was most recently the executive director of Vermont CARES.