SUNBURY – Northumberland County will be using a sizable federal grant to begin implementing the newly announced LETI program. In this WKOK follow-up story, Northumberland County Drug and Alcohol Coordinator Manny Giorgini says the county is receiving $635,000 to implement a number of different services and personnel for the program.
We last told you the Law Enforcement Treatment Initiative assists law enforcement in connecting people to drug and alcohol treatment. State Attorney General Josh Shapiro announced the expansion of the LETI program to Northumberland County Tuesday in Sunbury, the fifth county to receive the program.
Giorgini says the grant allows for the hiring of a Certified Recovery Specialist at Guadenzia, the company which operates the new treatment center near to the new county prison. He says that person has already been hired and will be starting in the next two weeks.
Giorgini says the grant also allows for other services; Including a recovery housing initiative, programs for pregnant women diagnosed with an opioid disorder, and evidence-based programs at local schools called, ‘Strengthening Families.’
The LETI program now allows Law Enforcement Officers to call a number to put most first-time offenders (amenable to treatment) into a detox program at Guadenzia. Giorgini says officers can start using that number now, as a call center at Guadenzia is now operating.
