Northampton Health Department: Expansion of the Drug Addiction and Recovery Team
Opioid overdose and deaths related to polysubstance use continue to be the main driver of substance related deaths in Massachusetts. Since 2014, the presence of fentanyl in the drug supply has increased dramatically, contributing to the rising rates of opioid and polysubstance overdose death. According to the Massachusetts Department of Public Health, 9 out of 10 deaths involving polysubstance use include opioids. The Northampton Health Department (NHD), located in Western Massachusetts (WMA), plays a key role in addressing the opioid crisis by serving as a lead convener throughout the region. NHD has garnered national accolades for it's innovative Drug Addiction and Recovery Team (DART) program. DART is a public safety/public health collaboration providing free support for people with substance use disorder (SUD) and their families -- such as after an overdose, for police response due to SUD, post-incarceration, self-referral, or by referral from community agencies. Strong administrative infrastructure for DART includes dynamic training and technical assistance and a customized, electronic case management system for overdose reporting, electronic case referral, robust data collection, and secure communication between team members. DART was originally piloted through a 2017 SAMHSA FR-CARA award and quickly expanded to serve county wide as a connective hub. The overall goal of this project is reducing opioid overdose deaths in WMA through the following three goals: (1)Ensure all first responders and other key community sectors are equipped with and trained to use Naloxone. This project will engage new police and EMS departments who currently do not carry and distribute Naloxone. We will increase access to harm reduction tools by distributing Naloxone, Naloxboxes, and fentanyl test strips to people who use drugs and their social networks. (2)Ensure all DART member departments and agencies, along with key community sectors, are provided training on topics such as polysubstance use, stimulants, fentanyl, and other drugs of concern. We will enhance NHD's Recovery Friendly Workplace Toolkit, currently in development, by creating additional accompanying tools and resources. (3) Establish processes to integrate EMS providers into DART and create a mobile induction of medication for opioid use disorder protocol. Through DART's expansion, we expect to serve 1000 DART participants throughout the four years of the project and will train a minimum of 900 DART members, community members, and professionals in varying sectors. This project will serve as a model by offering a robust evaluation plan, frameworks for training, protocols, templates for public relations, and will contribute to the development of evidence based practices.