New ‘Sesame Street’ Muppet can be a lifeline for kids with parents trapped by addiction

Children are hidden victims in the opioid epidemic. Any solution to our addiction crisis must cut through the stigma, or else their future is at risk. Marc Siegel | Opinion columnist USAtoday.com  Alicia Reddy, a nurse known as the “addiction angel” of Staten Island, New York, for her unwavering efforts to help those addicted to opioids quit, told me about one addict who couldn’t stop using heroin despite many attempts and multiple rehabilitation programs. Finally, he fathered a child who had a severe bowel disorder requiring several surgeries. In the process of supporting his child and arranging for extensive treatment and followup, this addict finally found a purpose to his life outside of his addiction and was able to quit. Opioid addiction is more than just a disease, it is a serpent that grabs at the soul and doesn’t let go. The addiction story involves more than the growing number of opioid overdose [...]

August 26th, 2020|

Dr. Marc Siegel: Treat opioid abusers, don’t jail them

By Dr. Marc Siegel, | Fox News AG Sessions announces new drug crime crackdown Richard Fowler, Charlie Hurt debate new policy Last week, Attorney General Jeff Sessions announced his intention to seek harsher penalties for criminal activity involving opioids. On the surface this would seem logical, as a large extent of the opioid epidemic involves criminal activity. But, unfortunately, there is no evidence that stiffer penalties will stem the tide of abuse and overdose. In fact, a National Institutes of Health study published in the Journal of the American Medical Association in 2009 concluded that treating the addiction that led to the criminal behavior not only improved public health, but also reduced criminality. Treatment involves effective medication such as Suboxone (naloxone and buprenorphine) or methadone, but it can help only with the physical addiction. The disease goes much deeper. Lasting cures are tied to 12-step rehabilitation programs, peer-to-peer counseling and having something [...]

August 26th, 2020|

Opioid Epidemic Growing Across America

Shayna Estulin went to an area of New York hit hard by opioid addiction, to find out the epidemic might be going global.

August 26th, 2020|

New York’s ‘Addiction Angel’ helps addicts cure their disease

  There are angels all around us, like Alicia Reddy. This selfless woman, also known as the Addiction Angel, wants nothing more than to help those struggling with the disease of addiction. She is a RN and a drug interventionist. Her passion with helping others started when 3 family members struggled with addiction and she was there to help. "I have three nephews that are addicts and I can honestly say that they are my happy ending", Alicia shared. "All three are clean today, together. That’s really what prompted me to start." Since then, she has given herself a name and given others life. When not working as a nurse at Staten Island University Hospital, Alicia is holding interventions or is on the phone guiding families and friends who are helping their loved ones fight through addiction. Watch how she works tirelessly to get people the help they need; whether it be personally getting them into rehab or being available to talk anytime they need. A [...]

August 26th, 2020|

How A Staten Island Nurse Became ‘The Addiction Angel

By Britni de la Cretaz 07/19/17 ( c) TheFix  A registered nurse has dedicated her life to helping those in her local area win the fight against drug addiction. Alicia Palermo-Reddy  Photo via YouTube Alicia Palermo-Reddy is a nurse on Staten Island who is known as “the addiction angel.” She helps families who have been touched by addiction, and whose loved ones are struggling, according to the New York Daily News. Palermo-Reddy did her own research, educating herself about treatment programs, support groups, and even placing restraining orders. She works with treatment programs and clinicians to get people with addiction the help they need. Palermo-Reddy first crossed paths with drug users during overnight shifts at a hospital detox program. “When I heard about heroin growing up, I thought about people in trailer parks with no teeth and black feet,” Palermo-Reddy told the Daily News. “Seeing these young, beautiful kids with sores on them and heartbreaking stories was [...]

August 18th, 2020|

Heroin’s New Hometown

Barry and Candace Crupi’s son Johnathan died of a heroin overdose at their home on Staten Island. He was 21. The obituaries have a certain sameness to them: full of praise and regret for lives cut short, marked by telltale details and omissions. The deaths occurred at home, or at a friend’s house elsewhere on Staten Island. The mourned were often young and white, and although how they died was never mentioned, nearly everyone knew or suspected the cause.

September 11th, 2016|

Staten Island Comes To Terms With Heroin Epidemic

TYLER: Staten Island is in the middle of a heroin epidemic. The borough has the most opiate deaths per capita in the city – twice Manhattan’s rate.   GREGOIRE: Most of these fatalities are happening on the island’s more prosperous South Shore. Joe Sykes reports on how Staten Islanders are searching for ways to come to terms with the problem.   _______________________________________________________________________     SYKES: It’s on the Staten Island Ferry   Up Staten Island Ferry   you first notice all might not be well in New York’s least populated borough. Among advertisements for Italian restaurants and golf resorts there are public service posters which portray empty beer bottles and boxes of pills. The tagline: “Heroin starts here.”   Clare Porcello says that’s how her son Joey got addicted.   Clare: This is his graduation picture. That’s when he started, when he first took that pill that’s when he [...]

September 11th, 2016|

New York Heroine Battles To Save Addicts

Watch This Video Here. Some 30 people recently gathered on a rainy evening at a local high school auditorium, and while most were strangers, they were united by the burden of a loved one addicted to heroin -- and by their hope for help from an unlikely angel. Alicia Palermo-Reddy, a full-time nurse on Staten Island, started her own support group, called Addiction Angel, after a member of her extended family had a drug problem five years ago. Since then, she has seen a disturbing increase in heroin addiction in this borough of New York City and not enough resources to fight it. So she took on the fight. "I realized I have knowledge, drive and the energy to help people with addiction, and the biggest part of the problem which I found on Staten Island was that there were no resources," she said. "I started holding support groups in [...]

September 11th, 2016|

Addiction Angel Holds Scared Straight Drug Forum

View This Video Here. As Staten Island battles a heroin epidemic, one native is leading the charge. NY1's Stephanie Officer filed the following report. Sharing their own experiences of overcoming addiction, students who have already been exposed to drugs are hoping to deter others from trying them. "I was a homeless heroin addict. I was rescued by being arrested. Getting arrested gave me time of being by myself and sit with myself and get to think about my family," said Jacquelin Tavares. "I was doing Perc 30s. Percocets. I was using straight for three to four years,” Jamie Longo stated. "We're at Bloomingdale park all the time. We're around the area, we smell it. I don't wanna be like that when I get older,” said I.S. 34 student Michael Federico. Alicia Reddy wants this message to resonate with every audience member who attended her Scared Straight event at Tottenville High [...]

September 11th, 2016|

Advocates Discuss Borough’s Drug Problem

From prescription pills to heroin, substance abuse experts say the borough's drug problem is only growing worse. NY1's Anthony Pascale discusses the problem with Candice Crupi who lost her son to a drug overdose and Alicia Reddy, the founder of "Addiction Angel," a drug support group. View this video here. by Anthony Pascale, Friday, October 16, 2015

September 11th, 2016|