The Metro: Detroit Fire Department teams with nonprofit to reduce overdose deaths

Overdose deaths across the United States have declined more than 10% over the past year, according to the latest public health data. While this is positive news, the trend comes after skyrocketing overdose deaths for the last two decades. 

Subscribe to The Metro on Apple Podcasts, Spotify, NPR.org or wherever you get your podcasts.

One big source of those deaths have come from opioids. According to the city of Detroit, the opioid epidemic killed 430 people in the city in 2023 alone — or over 15% of the state’s total. The Detroit Fire Department used naloxone (also known as Narcan) — a medication that reverses overdoses — 2,400 times on medical calls that same year. 

That’s why the Detroit Fire Department announced this month it is teaming up with the nonprofit Face Addiction Now (FAN) to launch a Quick Response Team to help stabilize people experiencing an overdose. 

Detroit Fire Commissioner Chuck Simms and Medical Director Dr. Robert Dunne joined The Metro on Friday to share more about the program.

Use the media player above to listen to the conversation with Simms and Dunne.

More headlines from The Metro on Sept. 27, 2024:  

• A recent decision to increase education spending passed through the state Legislature this week. State Capitol Reporter with the Michigan Public Radio Network Colin Jackson joined the show to discuss the spending bill.
• It’s Friday and our friends, the Detroit Documenters have returned, bringing us public meetings updates from across Detroit. Detroit Police towed almost 31,000 cars last year. The prices residents pay for police-authorized tows are set by the Detroit Tow Rate Commission. Documenters were at the commission meeting on Sept. 12, where they proposed a set of new rates that would be the first tow rate increase in over a decade. To discuss the proposal, BridgeDetroit contributor and Docu-Mentor Kayleigh Lickliter and Detroit Documenters Coordinator Noah Kincade. 
• CuriosiD is one of WDET’s most treasured programs. It gives our journalists a space to investigate a lot of quirky and interesting things happening around Detroit and the metro area. To celebrate its 10th year, WDET’s News Director Jerome Vaughn sat down with a bunch of current and former WDET journalists, exploring how they help produce the listener-led podcast.

Listen to The Metro weekdays from 11 a.m. to noon ET on 101.9 FM and streaming on-demand.

>