The Roanoke Valley Collective Response is hiring three peer recovery specialists who will respond to calls with police and paramedics.

A potent batch of opioids has led to an uptick in overdoses and deaths in recent weeks, according to advocates.

A proposal from Del. Sam Rasoul would study how a transformed Catawba Hospital could expand into addiction treatment.

For decades, painkillers flooded the Roanoke Valley as part of a push by pharmaceutical companies that helped fuel a nationwide opioid epidemic.