Catherine Rusoff
In the midst of country’s opioid crisisthe city of Seattle announced the creation of a recovery center for people who have been revived after an overdose.
The Downtown Emergency Care Center, an existing nonprofit with multiple locations, will operate what officials called an “overdose care and stabilization facility” at an area hotel after renovations to the building. People who have overdosed and have “long-term health conditions requiring medical attention and case management services” will be able to spend up to 23 consecutive hours at the facility, according to a press release.
Seattle Mayor Bruce Harrell said the facility would be supported by the Seattle Fire Department’s overdose response team, which would transport patients to the building. Once there, providers will focus on post-overdose medical care, starting evidence-based drug treatmentsand connecting patients with physical and behavioral health services.
“The deadly fentanyl and synthetic opioid crisis we are seeing on our streets and in our neighborhoods demands that we be urgent, compassionate and innovative in how we help people suffering from addiction access life-saving treatments,” said Harrell , who previously issued an executive order aimed at combating the city’s opioid and synthetic drug crisis.
“This new investment in an overdose recovery center and mobile clinics will stabilize people after a non-fatal overdose, relieving their painful withdrawal symptoms that often lead them to use these highly addictive drugs again and connecting them to treatment. and evidence-based recovery. services,” Harrell continued.
DESC Executive Director Daniel Malone said the facility will help “prevent the next overdose and reduce emergency room use” in the region.
Renovations to the hotel are expected to begin in the first quarter of 2025. Pilot services will be available at a different facility starting next month.
The center is on track to receive $5.65 million in capital funding, the news release said. Another treatment program, Evergreen Treatment Services, is a finalist for receive an additional US$1.35 million this would be used to support an outpatient clinic and mobile medical units that can go into the community and provide support and care throughout the region, the news release said.
The funds are part of a $27 million investment in support of Harrell’s executive order.
According to National Center for Health Statistics, a branch of the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, the drug overdose death rate in Washington state is 28.1 per 100,000 people. O state health department said that between 2005 and 2021, the state recorded more than 17,000 opioid overdose deaths, with rates “nearly doubling” between 2019 and 2021.
The Drug Enforcement Agency told CBS News affiliate KIRO in February that they seized millions of fentanyl pills in Washington. The state has the third-highest rate of fentanyl pill seizures, behind Arizona and California, according to the agency. Fentanyl is a powerful synthetic opioid that is present in most opioid overdose deaths.
