Our nation is battling an intensifying opioid epidemic, seen consistently in our newspapers and on TV. However, it’s not until it affects our daily lives that we truly see the ramifications and magnitude of the problem. As firefighters, we have more exposure to this epidemic than most, since many of us have been trained on naloxone use and have responded to a drug-related call or know someone who has.
However, this escalating public safety problem only truly began to hit home for me when residents in my community started finding needles on our streets, beaches, and playgrounds. At the same time, the Sandwich (MA) Fire Department (SFD) Community Wellness program was identifying a growing epidemic of storage of used medical needles in homes. Like other communities across the country, we were worried for the safety of our residents and struggled to find a long-term and affordable solution.
One of the first steps we took was to get a handle on the scope of the problem by partnering with community groups on opioid addiction and with our Visiting Nursing Association (VNA), who deal in the home health care of our most vulnerable populations. Unfortunately, Sandwich’s story is not an uncommon one; this is a real and growing problem in all of our backyards.
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