Rebecca Linn-Walton is an executive at the city's hospital system and she's been clean from drugs for 20 years.

"Everything fell apart and I was lucky enough to have a really loving family that was willing to get me the help I needed,” she told NY1 on Thursday. “I got to treatment and I was swooped up with really compassionate and empathetic care."

Care she says they provide at Bellevue.

And care that's desperately needed right now.

What You Need To Know

  • Every four hours, someone in the city dies from an overdose

  • The attorney general has secured $1.5 billion in funding from settlements with opioid distributors and manufacturers

  • Now that funding is going to prevention, treatment and education

On Thursday, public health officials, the attorney general and the mayor announced $88.9 million for the city this year to tackle the opioid crisis. The money comes from $1.5 billion the attorney general secured from settlements with opioid manufacturers and distributors.  

"These funds will be placed in a locked box,” said state Attorney General Letitia James. “They will go to primarily treatment, prevention and education and to reverse overdoses."

It's unclear how the money will be distributed.

Plenty of programs have popped up to address the crisis —  like two new overdose prevention centers in Manhattan where people can use illegal drugs under supervision. There overdoses can be reversed in real time.

Another organization, Housing Works, is trying to open another center in Manhattan this summer.

These sites would not be likely recipients of this money — because they are in violation of federal law.

"Now when you look at the overdose prevention centers what we can't do is saturate one community with them, like I am seeing in Harlem, and we really want to examine that," the mayor said when asked about the centers on Thursday.  

These programs and the money come as the city sees record-breaking overdoses year after year.  And providers are hoping this new funding can make a difference.

"This money has to be used for prevention, treatment and recovery services throughout the city,” said Ann-Marie Foster of Phoenix House NY, a residential and outpatient treatment provider. “These dollars have to be put right into the hands of treatment providers, like Phoenix House, like other community based organizations that have traditionally dealt with marginalized individuals who have suffered at the hands of the overdose crisis."