ONDCP Acting Director Richard Baum was recently briefed by the creators of two innovative fire department-led initiatives to address the opioid epidemic. Safe Station, a program developed in May 2016 by the City of Manchester, New Hampshire, welcomes people seeking help for addiction at any of the city’s 10 fire stations, where they will be given a brief medical assessment to determine if hospitalization is required and handed off to a recovery coach or case manager for direct linkage to treatment. Within its first year of operation, the program has helped over 1,600 people seeking help for opioid use disorder or another substance use disorder.
Launched in 2016, the Revere, Massachusetts, Substance Use Disorder Initiative (SUDI) fields a team consisting of a fire fighter, a recovery coach, and a harm reduction specialist who conduct door-to-door follow up visits at the homes of overdose survivors and provide them and their with families information and resources including overdose prevention and naloxone training and kits, and offer to assist individuals in accessing treatment. The initiative is housed in a central office and coordinates the city’s public health and public safety efforts in response to the opioid crisis.
ONDCP is reaching out to these and other innovative initiatives to learn from their successes so their models and best practices can be quickly replicated in communities across the country as we work to address the ongoing addiction and opioid epidemic.
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