Delaware County is getting a dedicated team to respond to emergencies involving drug overdoses.
A paramedic and a certified recovery specialist – someone with lived experience in addiction who provides peer support – will partner on 911 calls for overdoses, encouraging drug users to be directly transported from the scene to one of Main Line Health's four Mirmont Treatment Center locations in Delaware and Chester counties.
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The overdose response team is being funded by a $560,000 grant, Main Line Health announced Thursday.
"For decades now, we have seen a worsening opioid epidemic – someone in Delaware County overdoses every seven to nine minutes," Jack Lynch, Main Line Health's president and chief economic officer, said in a statement.
Overall, fatal drug overdoses in Delaware County – and nationwide – have been declining, but remain in high numbers. There were 170 drug overdose deaths in Delaware County in 2023, compared to 155 in 2022 and 205 in 2020. Philadelphia had 1,314 fatal drug overdoses in 2023, compared to 1,417 in 2022 and 1,217 in 2020, according to the most recent statistics available.
Nationwide, there were 105,007 drug overdose deaths in 2023, compared to nearly 108,000 in 2022 and 91,799 in 2020, according to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention.
Emergency responders in Delaware County administered more than 65,000 doses of naloxone, the opioid overdose reversal medication with the brand name Narcan, from 2019 to 2021, Main Line Health said.
"As Delaware County has battled one of Pennsylvania's highest instances of opioid use disorders, and a spike in overdose deaths since the COVID-19 pandemic, we have seen the positive impact of evidence-based, community resources," U.S. Rep. Mary Gay Scanlon, D-5 said in a statement. "This overdose response team will serve as a vital safety net, providing immediate, on-the-ground intervention and support for those in crisis while easing the burden on overworked medical and emergency service providers.”
Part of the $560,000 grant will go to creating a new certified recovery specialist position at Mirmont. As an overdose response team, the paramedic medically stabilizes the patient as the peer specialist engages with the person in a nonjudgmental way about treatment, Main Line Health said.
Main Line Health did not immediately respond to questions seeking further comment, including whether the grant is part of the opioid funding Pennsylvania obtained in settlements with opioid distributors. The funds are paid by pharmaceutical companies to settle claims for their alleged roles in the opioid crisis. Delaware County was on track to receive nearly $15.5 million in 2024, according to Spotlight PA.