10/15/2026
💚 Happy Global Peer Support Day! 💚
Today, we’re celebrating two incredible members of our team, Mary Jo Silver and Jacqueline Fox, and the difference peer support is making in McDowell County.
For years, emergency responders have witnessed the same difficult cycle: an overdose, a trip to the emergency department, a return home, and another call for help. It’s heartbreaking for families, individuals, and the responders who want so badly to make a difference.
But what if we could do more than respond to the emergency? What if we could help change what happens next?
That’s where peer support comes in.
Peer Support Specialists use their lived experiences to build trust, offer hope, and connect people with treatment, recovery services, and resources they may not have known existed.
Through our Community Paramedicine program and opioid settlement-funded initiatives, our responders can now offer a warm handoff, sometimes right there on the scene, connecting someone in crisis with a real person and a pathway forward.
For our responders, this changes things too. Instead of wondering whether they’ll be back tomorrow, they have resources that can help break the cycle and create lasting change.
Mary Jo and Jacqueline remind us every day that recovery is possible, compassion matters, and everyone deserves an opportunity for a better tomorrow.
Saving a life matters. Helping someone build a life beyond the emergency matters, too. 💚
