Chestnut Health Systems

Behavioral health specialists have spent the past year serving riders on Metro Transit in the St. Louis region.

A pair of two-person teams from Chestnut Health Systems will be on hand 40 hours a week to assist transit riders suffering from substance-use disorders or other challenges. The yearlong pilot will cost $350,000.

Before the coronavirus pandemic, Illinois was already fighting a public health crisis - the opioid epidemic. Clinicians at two drug rehab centers said...