The Healey administration on Tuesday announced a partnership with Boston Medical Center and the nonprofit RIZE Massachusetts to “fund and expand” the Massachusetts Overdose Prevention Helpline.
The Department of Public Health said the state is the first in the nation to fund an overdose prevention helpline with a $350,000 investment to hire paid staff for the program, which has been a volunteer effort since it began in 2020.
The helpline uses a “spotting model” to prevent fatal overdoses, with trained operators talking on the phone with people using drugs and alerting authorities when callers become unresponsive, DPH said.
State officials said there were 2,357 overdose deaths in Massachusetts last year, a 2.5 percent increase over 2021, when 92 percent of overdose deaths occurred in private settings.
Read more here: https://www.bostonglobe.com/2023/09/26/metro/state-provides-funding-for-mass-overdose-prevention-helpline/
