On Track to Save Lives: Overdose Prevention and Response Network - America On Track (AOT), a trusted Orange County, California public health nonprofit since 1995, requests three years of SAMHSA funding to create a coordinated overdose prevention and response system in Santa Ana, Buena Park, and Stanton. With nine confirmed partners, AOT will provide lifesaving education, naloxone training/distribution, and treatment/recovery referrals to 33,600 unduplicated participants. Geographic Area and Capacity Development Need Catchment area: Santa Ana, Buena Park, and Stanton, Orange County, California. Santa Ana ranks first countywide in total and fentanyl-specific overdose deaths; Buena Park and Stanton are in north Orange County, where the County’s Community Health Improvement Plan found the greatest mortality increases. Overdoses caused 56% of accidental deaths in 2023. Core gap: no recurring three-city system for overdose education, OORM access, and referral follow-up. Population of Focus Adolescents through older adults, both sexes, with focused outreach to residents facing housing instability, criminal-justice/system involvement, fentanyl-exposure risk, and limited access to overdose education, OORMs, and treatment/recovery support. Clinically: people who use opioids or fentanyl-contaminated substances, laypersons positioned to respond to an overdose, and criminal justice-involved families reached through Brighter Futures for Children of Prisoners. Uninsured and homelessness rates in Buena Park and Stanton exceed county averages, while poverty is elevated in Stanton. Services are open to all eligible residents based on need, regardless of race, ethnicity, sex, or other protected characteristic. Strategies and Interventions • Overdose education, full naloxone trainings, and brief mini-trainings with immediate OORM distribution at outreach events/partner sites, backed by a three-level referral protocol (OC Links, DMC-ODS Member Access Line, warm-handoff referral to treatment/recovery). • Technical assistance/Training-of-Trainers for partners, overprescribing-risk education for medical providers, a Community Prevention Collaborative via OC CHIP SUD Workgroup, and amplification of the County’s “Fentanyl is Forever” campaign through nine confirmed partners. Project Goals • Increase community capacity to recognize and respond to overdoses via education, training, and naloxone distribution. • Strengthen referral linkages to the County’s SUD treatment and recovery system. • Build partner/medical-provider capacity for overdose prevention, and establish sustained coordination through a Community Prevention Collaborative. Measurable Objectives • Annually: education ≥ 3,200; naloxone training/OORM ≥ 2,000 (≥85% report increased knowledge/confidence) plus ≥ 5,000 via brief trainings; ≥ 250 treatment/recovery referrals (≥50% linkage); ≥ 35 TA/ToT sessions reaching ≥ 100 staff; ≥ 4 medical-provider sessions reaching 80–120 providers. • Served: 10,200 (Yr 1), 11,200 (Yr 2), 12,200 (Yr 3) — 33,600 total; aligned with SAMHSA priorities of saving lives, fiscal stewardship, and crisis/treatment partnership (988).
