- In Seattle. The city’s Fire Department’s “new overdose response unit [is] seeing early success,” as Joel Moreno reports for KOMO News, ABC’s local affiliate. Moreno explained that the “one-of-a-kind overdose response unit just went operational” and is …
“staffed by a specially-trained crew focused on treatment… made up of two firefighters and a social worker. They go out to the initial medical emergency, but instead of rushing off to the next 911 call once it is resolved, they stay with the patient. They also follow up in the days to come…Firefighters still show up with Narcan and other life-saving equipment to deal with the immediate emergency, then the overdose response unit steps in to try and connect the patient to detox centers and other services.” [Seattle Fire Chief Harold Scoggins told the news station]: “Our early reports are saying that it’s proven to be positive…. They spend the time on scene working with the person… it’s not a call we go on and leave [instead] we go on, we work with you…[and] we follow up the next day because our intention is to get them into treatment.”
- In Milwaukee. “Inside Milwaukee Fire Station 31 on the 2400 block of South 8th Street, you won’t find fire trucks. Yet, that does not mean help is not ready to respond,” Anthony Dubruzzi Writes for Spectrum One News. That’s because the building is home to the Fire Department’s Milwaukee Overdose Response Initiative—or “MORI”—, which is composed of “two teams that work seven hours a day during the week [going] through EMS and dispatch data to find all the fatal and non-fatal overdoses in the county. After doing so, a team of community paramedics from the fire department, along with certified peer support specialists, is sent out to follow up, ideally 24 to 48 hours later, with the individual and loved ones.” Fire Department Captain Dave Polachowski told Spectrum One that the fire department based model is a good one because: “Our badge gets us in the door, and then the peer support takes over … Our members will offer a HOPE kit, which has Narcan and fentanyl test strips and information inside of there, leave that with them, [and] advise them that we are going to follow up with them.”
- In Dallas. The city’s Fire-Rescue Department partnered with non-profit Recovery Resource Council to launch a “new overdose response team saving lives one person at a time… [offering] patients face-to-face resources [and] support, ” Alanna Quillen reports for NBC5. Here’s how the team works:
“The Recovery Resource Council pairs one of the peer specialists with a Dallas Fire Rescue Paramedic. The team pulls data from every overdose 911 call and physically goes back to the address to track down the person who overdosed. If they can meet the person face-to-face, the team offers free boxes of the nasal spray Narcan, resources, phone numbers and life-changing connections to recovery programs….‘We can’t rehabilitate somebody who’s dead. Somebody who dies from an overdose doesn’t have an opportunity to learn from their mistake,’ said Becky Tinney, special projects director for Recovery Resource Council, ‘We have to start thinking of different ways to address this epidemic.’”