RESOURCE | FROM PAGE 1 Page 2 was copied to several town officials – including the five members of the Board of Selectmen, the police and fire chiefs, the school superintendent and the Health Department director. The email was also shared with The Saugus Advocate. In the latest in a series of emails with the town manager, Parlante asked these questions: 1. Is there currently a follow-up outreach protocol after an overdose in Saugus? If so, what does it look like in practice? 2. Who owns that process and is responsible for carryTHE SAUGUS ADVOCATE – FriDAy, JUly 10, 2026 ing it out? 3. Regarding the young woman who overdosed twice in one week last month, again, not asking about her identity, just whether our existing process, whatever it is, was followed in that case. 4. We also had a Saugus student overdose while in another community. Is there a standing process for coordinating with other towns when that happens, or is that something we should be building? 5. The town encumbered about $66,887 in opioid abatement funds this fiscal year, with just over $400,000 still unspent. I’d like to understand the plan “WE’RE STILL HERE!” Since 1947 MALDEN AUTO BODY Book online: Maldenauto.com 49 Robin St., Everett, MA 617-389-3030 * Maldenab@yahoo.com Over 79 years of exceptional service! Massone Family Owned & Operated and rough timeline for putting the rest of that funding to work. 6. Saugus used to have a dedicated follow-up team for situations like this. I’d genuinely like to understand why that ended, and whether it’s something you’d be open to revisiting. “I’d also ask you to take an honest look at whether the Health Department has the staffing and support it needs to actually carry out follow-up outreach, not just administer the funding,” Parlante wrote. “If capacity is part of what’s limiting this, I’d rather know that plainly so we can figure out how to address it, instead of getting procedural answers that don’t move things forward,” he said. Crabtree has maintained in recent emails that he and town staff have been responsive to Parlante’s requests. “With respect to any specific individual or reported incident, the Town cannot confirm, deny, or discuss personal health, medical, emergency response, or outreach details involving a resident,” Crabtree wrote in an email to Parlante last month. “Those matters may involve privacy protections and are not appropriate for public discussion or email correspondence. Generally speaking, overdose-related and substance-use-related responses may involve coordination among public safety and public health personnel, including Police, Fire, and the Health Department, depending on the circumstances,” the town manager said. “I also want to clarify that your inquiries have not been ignored. You have had prior communications with staff in my office regarding these concerns, and you were directed to the appropriate department heads for the operational, public health, and public safety information you are seeking. My office’s role in this matter has been to help route your inquiry appropriately,” he said. “The specific questions you have raised regarding Health Department programs, substance use outreach, opioid abatement-funded initiatives, recovery resources, and related public health policies are most appropriately addressed by the Health Director. Questions regarding Police or Fire response protocols are most appropriately addressed by the Police Chief and Fire Chief.” Crabtree stressed that the Town treats issues involving substance use disorder, mental health challenges, overdose prevention, recovery support, harm reduction and community wellness as “important public health matters” and that it continues to “work through the appropriate departments to strengthen our response and connect residents with available resources.” “As one recent example of this ongoing work, the Town of Saugus Wellness Collective held its Walk for Wellness [last month] at Breakheart Reservation,” Crabtree wrote. “It was a positive community event with strong participation and reflected the type of outreach, education, wellness, and prevention work that the Health Department and the Town are continuing to build upon,” he said. Parlante, a lieutenant in the Revere Fire Department, has completed the first half of his second two-year term on the 50-member Town Meeting. Since getting elected, he’s been an outspoken advocate for people afflicted with substance abuse. “I’ve been in long-term recovery since 2009. Addiction has touched my life in a lot of ways beyond my own journey,” Parlante told The Saugus Advocate this week. “I’ve lost close friends to overdose and other addiction-related deaths over the years, and more recently, I lost my daughter’s mother to a drunk driver, just as she was coming up on nine years sober herself. That loss is a big part of why I initially ran for office, why I do this work and why it feels urgent to me, not abstract,” he said. Parlante sits on several city and town prevention coalitions and HUBs across the region, including the Saugus Prevention Coalition, which he helped start about two years ago. “That’s actually a big part of what drives my frustration here,” Parlante said. “Being in these rooms regularly with other communities’ health departments, elected officials, police, fire and recovery programs, I see firsthand what other towns are doing and how far Saugus is lagging behind, despite my own efforts to collaborate directly with the town on this for the past two years. The town recently launched its own Wellness Collective, and I’ll be candid that after two years of trying to work with them directly on exactly this kind of effort, it feels more like a PR move than a genuine program,” he said.
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