Eammon's Heart

08/21/2026

A day is good too! 💪

08/20/2026

08/03/2026

Founded after the loss of her son, Helen Sheehan’s organization celebrates seven years of connection-driven advocacy as

08/02/2026

Massachusetts Released the Opioid Settlement Funds. Why Haven’t Our Cities Used Them?

Helen Sheehan, Executive Director of Eammon’s Heart Foundation for Prevention & Recovery

When you lose your child to addiction, you learn quickly that grief doesn’t end — it transforms. It becomes a responsibility, a calling, a promise to fight for every life still within reach. My son’s death is the reason Eammon’s Heart Foundation exists, and it’s the reason I’m writing today.

Because Massachusetts has already distributed millions in opioid settlement funds to cities and towns, but many communities have not activated these dollars for the very purpose they were intended: saving lives.

Beginning in 2022, Massachusetts began releasing its share of the national opioid settlement funds. The distributions have continued in installments over the past few years. The state has been transparent: the money is out the door.

But at the municipal level, the funds remain largely unspent, unannounced, and underutilized.

As the director of a harm reduction and prevention nonprofit, I have spent years tracking these funds, asking questions, and trying to understand how they might be deployed locally. I’ve asked, searched, and waited. If plans existed, I believed our organization — deeply embedded in community outreach — would have been informed.

This is not an accusation. It is an observation. And it is a call to action.

Haverhill has been recognized statewide for its significant reduction in overdose deaths in recent years. That is something to be proud of. It reflects the dedication of first responders, community partners, outreach workers, and harm reduction advocates who have worked tirelessly to keep people alive.

But a decrease in overdose deaths does not mean substance use has abated. It means people are surviving — not that they have stopped using.

Survival is the first step. Recovery is the next. And the settlement funds were designed to help communities build the bridge between the two.

Haverhill is experiencing one of the largest waves of residential development in its modern history. Thousands of new units are being built and filled. New families, new professionals, new students, new retirees — all choosing Haverhill as home.

This is a moment of pride. But it is also a moment of responsibility.

Because the people moving here are human — just like the people already here. They will bring with them the same vulnerabilities, the same struggles, the same mental health challenges, and yes, the same risks of substance use that every community in America faces. Our struggles here will only expand.

Growth doesn’t erase human frailty. It increases the number of people who may need help.

We are fortunate that Haverhill already has the infrastructure. Our city is not starting from nothing. We have established programs, partnerships, and networks ready to scale.

To name just a few:

• The Mayor’s HOPE Task Force
• The Haverhill Police Collaborative
• Harm reduction and Narcan first aid events with Northern Essex Community College
• Free Narcan distribution
• Community partnerships with Haverhill Police, Mass General Brigham’s Bridge Clinic, The NAN Project, and the Merrimack Valley EMBRACE Collaborative
• Training programs for inpatient discharges, families, and frontline workers
• The PEACE Project, providing leave behind Narcan kits through EMS

These programs are already functioning. They are already saving lives. The community already trusts them.

The settlement funds could strengthen these types of programs in other communities, expand them, and help launch new initiatives that bridge harm reduction to abstinence — a pipeline we at Eammon’s Heart believe in wholeheartedly.

Harm reduction is not the opposite of abstinence. It is often the first step toward it.

With the current federal administration signaling a shift away from harm reduction funding, it is more important than ever to clarify what these programs actually do: They keep people alive long enough to choose recovery. They stabilize families. They reduce emergency calls. They prevent funerals. And they create the very conditions that make abstinence possible.

I am asking — as a mother, as a nonprofit director, and as someone who has spent years searching for answers — why these funds have not yet been fully activated or publicly discussed in our towns.

The money is here. The need is urgent. The programs exist. The partnerships are ready. I am asking our statewide city leaders to:

• Share how much settlement funding that has been received
• Outline any plans or timelines for allocation
• Invite community organizations into the planning process
• Consider evidence based harm reduction and recovery pipeline investments
• Engage residents in a public discussion about priorities
This is an invitation to collaborate.

The opioid crisis is not abstract for me. It is personal. It is the reason my son is gone. It is the reason I show up every day to fight for families who still have a chance.

The settlement money was meant to help those families. It was meant to repair harm. It was meant to save lives.

Let’s use it.

07/21/2026

https://www.usatoday.com/press-release/story/37364/eammons-heart-foundation-marks-seven-years-of-impact-championing-the-harm-reduction-to-sobriety-path-saving-lives/

We hit the big time!

Founded after the loss of her son, Helen Sheehan’s organization celebrates seven years of connection-driven advocacy as

04/11/2026

Yes… I will grieve my son forever.

Not because I’m broken,
but because I loved him
in a way that doesn’t have an ending.

This isn’t a sentence I’m serving…
it’s a love I’m carrying.

One that didn’t get
its full story,
its full laughter,
its full time.

So I hold onto him
in memories, in silence, in everything.

Because some loves
don’t fade away…
they just learn how to live
without a goodbye.

04/05/2026

The CDC warns of surging detections of medetomidine, a potent non-opioid veterinary sedative 100–200 times stronger than xylazine that is increasingly laced with Fentanyl in the Northeast U.S. drug supply, causing prolonged deep sedation, bradycardia, hypotension, and difficult-to-reverse overdoses despite using Naloxone.

DETAILS:

MASSACHUSETTS/RHODE ISLAND/NEW YORK/PENNSYLVANIA - The CDC is issuing a health warning that should get the attention of those in the northeast. Medetomidine, also known as “rhino tranq,” “mede,” or “dex”, is a powerful synthetic alpha-2 adrenergic agonist used as a sedative and analgesic...

02/26/2026

NARCAN TRAINING AND HARM-REDUCTION LUNCHEON

A Compassionate, Evidence-Based, and Community-Centered approach.

Harm reduction is a public health approach grounded in evidence, dignity, and practicality. It recognizes that people use substances for complex reasons, and that meeting individuals with compassion — rather than judgment — is the most effective way to keep them alive and connected to care. Instead of demanding abstinence as a prerequisite for support, harm reduction focuses on reducing the immediate risks of overdose, infection, and injury. This approach has been proven to save lives, strengthen trust, and open the door to treatment when people are ready.

At its core, harm reduction is about safety, not approval. Providing Narcan, teaching overdose response, offering sterile supplies, and creating non-punitive environments are not endorsements of drug use — they are strategies that prevent death. Research consistently shows that communities with strong harm reduction programs experience fewer fatal overdoses, lower rates of HIV and hepatitis transmission, and greater engagement in healthcare. These outcomes benefit everyone: families, schools, workplaces, and neighborhoods.

Harm reduction also recognizes the power of human connection. When people feel seen and valued rather than shamed or criminalized, they are far more likely to seek help, accept resources, and move toward recovery. This is why training like ours matters. They equip everyday community members with the tools to intervene in a crisis, but they also shift the culture — from stigma to understanding, from fear to knowledge, from isolation to support.

Ultimately, harm reduction is a bridge. It bridges people to safety, to services, to hope, and to the possibility of change. It is one of the most effective, humane, and community-strengthening strategies we have in the fight against overdose.

02/18/2026

Hold on tight! Life slips by like sunlight through a window—warm, bright, and gone before you notice.

Hold the small moments close, speak the truths you mean, and let gratitude mark the days between arrival and farewell.

In the hush of ordinary hours, remember how brief and beautiful this passing is.

Missing you especially hard today, punk! 💔

02/15/2026

We are accepting new referrals at Conexiones ITS, Residential Recovery, Supportive Housing, and at Familias Unidas Outpatient Clinic.
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Estamos aceptando nuevas referencias en Conexiones ITS, en Recuperación Residencial, en Vivienda con Apoyo y en la Clínica para pacientes ambulatorios de Familias Unidas.
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