MCO points out the role of COs as first responders in the opioid crisis

MCO is elevating messages of professionalism in corrections in many different ways. Today, the Detroit News published a column by MCO Executive Director Andy Potter on the dangerous opioids flowing into U.S. prisons, and the role COs should play in combating them.

Read the column on the Detroit News website.

“Recognize corrections officers as first responders and allow us to carry and administer life-saving drugs such as naloxone,” Potter writes. “By doing so, we create an alert and well-trained workforce with the skills and knowledge to impact the opioid crisis on the front lines and provide on-the-spot care.”

This article coincides with the State of Michigan’s 9/11 Ceremony in which they recognize first responders throughout the state of Michigan. Each representative is allowed two first responders as their guests and  up until recently, corrections officers had not been included in that ceremony. But today, we have four officers from Jackson, Lansing and Ionia representing corrections as first responders.

We should all be thinking outside the box about what a union is and should be to its members. It’s more than a contract. When we join together, we can elevate our profession in powerful ways.