…Greg Tatro said Jenna had a good heart and, even in the throes of her addiction, she wanted to help other people going through what she was going through.

So in their daughter’s memory, the Tatros have started an organization to establish a local recovery clinic — a place where people suffering with addictive disorders can go to address their physical health, mental health and overall well-being. They plan to call it Jenna’s House.

“I believe that this addiction, especially now that fentanyl (is) here, is a health crisis,” said Greg Tatro. “And we have to treat it like a health crisis. Or we’re never gonna win this battle until we do.”

That sentiment rings true with Daniel Franklin, the incoming executive director of Lamoille County’s North Central Vermont Recovery Center. The center offers recovery coaching and helps connect people with addictions to available resources.

“I think the magic in this community is that we have an extraordinary group of people who really care deeply about this issue and are coming together,” said Franklin. “Now it’s about coordinating and communicating and really working with people for whole-person, whole-life issues.”

Treatment resources are scarce in north central Vermont — especially when it comes to residential care and medically assisted treatment.

Franklin said there are more than 300 people in Lamoille County who are on medication assisted treatment for opioid addiction. Many of them have to travel hours each day to an addiction treatment center to receive medications like methadone. But for many it’s easier to get a fix on the streets, Franklin said.

“The real drug dealers, that are coming from elsewhere, that don’t care about killing our kids,” Franklin said, “they’ve recognized that we’re vulnerable and they’re moving into the community and selling drugs that are deadly.”

Franklin is talking about fentanyl, an opioid far more powerful than heroin. Greg Tatro said fentanyl is what killed his daughter.

“We think the fentanyl was close to 100 percent,” he said. “So, Jenna didn’t have a chance. You know, when she ingested that, then it was over.”

According to the Vermont Department of Health, fentanyl was a factor in three out of four opioid-related accidental and undetermined deaths last year. To combat that, the Tatros have begun putting together an advisory board, bringing law enforcement, health care providers, addiction experts and politicians to the table.

They’ve also made an offer on a building for Jenna’s House. It’s a former church in Johnson, being sold by the Catholic diocese.

“Our family went to mass there, and Dawn and I were married there,” Greg Tatro said. “Our children were baptized there. And we just think it’s a great spot to carry on Jenna’s dream.”

He said an offer to buy the church building is on the table. However the church and the local federally qualified health care organization that would run the clinic have yet to come to an agreement….Read More Here