COVID-19 UPDATE

Dear CAF friends and supporters,

Like all of you, The Chris Atwood Foundation is closely monitoring the COVID-19 outbreak and the current guidance being provided by the CDC and the Virginia Department of Health. We want to assure you that we take this outbreak and its potential effects very seriously.

Addiction does not stop in the midst of a pandemic. In fact, our clients who use drugs are among those most at risk. If you or a loved one take opioids or other drugs – please know that people who use almost any drug are at higher risk for serious or fatal complications from COVID-19 infection. Additionally, since opioids (both prescribed and illicit) are a respiratory depressant, infection with COVID-19 greatly increases the risk of opioid overdose. Please see COVID-19 Harm Reduction Guidance for important information and tips on reducing risk. This is a stressful time for all, including individuals who rely on mutual aid groups to support their recovery. Please know that online recovery support group meetings are available, through Unity Recovery and WeConnect.

To protect the health of our staff while continuing to provide life-saving overdose reversal medication and other critical services to our clients, we are implementing social distancing measures as recommended to slow the spread of this virus.

Our office staff are all working from home as of today and will return when we are advised it is safe to do so.
All meetings and volunteer events are cancelled until further notice.
Our peer support specialists will continue to check-in with our clients regularly by phone, text, and through social media outreach. Critically needed overdose reversal medication will either be mailed or delivered with a plan for safe distance drop-offs. If you need naloxone, please contact us today.
For the individuals we serve who are inactive use, we will encourage them to take extra reversal kits in the event that we are not able to reach them for a while.
Our recovery housing grants program will proceed as usual.

We sincerely appreciate your support as we serve our neighbors in need. As always, please do not hesitate to contact me at ginnylovitt@thecaf.org.

Sincerely,