STATEN ISLAND, N.Y. – New York City was in the throes of a heroin and crack epidemic in the early 1990s when Olivia Brennan saw the need for a detox unit on Staten Island.
As director of the social work department at the former Doctors’ Hospital in Concord, she battled drug abuse with education and intervention by opening a unit that helped addicts through painful withdrawal and into life-saving rehabilitation.
Her death Saturday morning in Richmond University Medical Center, one day after her 81st birthday, inspired memories of a kind and altruistic woman who put the needs of others in front of her own.
At Doctors’ Hospital, Mrs. Brennan went above and beyond for the recovering addicts under her care, making sure they had clothing, bus fare and a meal before discharge, recalled a former colleague. She accepted patients from all boroughs, and often arranged their transportation to the hospital after receiving a call for help.
Friends surmise her generosity in spirit was instilled by her father, a family doctor, and through her calling as a social worker…