The city of Burlington is implementing a team to reach out to people who overdose on opioids within 60 hours of the incident.
The Safe Response Team will include Jackie Corbally, Burlington’s Opioid Policy Coordinator, Chief Steven Locke of the Burlington Fire Department and Deputy Chief Shawn Burke of the Burlington Police Dept. The team will start its work on Feb. 1 and the city plans to run the pilot for four months.
Corbally presented the plan at a CommunityStat meeting Thursday. The monthly meetings bring together police, public health, social service, city and state officials in an effort to coordinate Burlington and Chittenden County’s response to opioid addiction.
Corbally said once police or emergency medical services tell the team about an overdose, they’ll try to meet with the person within 24 hours.
“The goal is that the three of us will go out, we will identify that individual and we will have a really frank, empathetic, compassionate conversation,” she said. “The goal here is that we will then be able to support and enable those individuals to get into services.”
Corbally said team members recognize that at times it might be difficult to track down people, but she said they will dedicate themselves to locating them.
“We're going to be relentless because we're going to find folks and let them know that we care and we're going to find folks and let them know that they are not in this alone and that there are services out there when they are ready, recognizing that not everybody is going to be ready,” she said.
Burlington Police Chief Brandon del Pozo said his hope is to maximize the opportunities for people to get treatment.
“In a perfect world you would go to the E.R. with an overdose, you'd walk in, it would be a chance to get inducted into the therapy. You'd overdose and walk away from the E.R, the next day we offer you the opportunity to go to therapy. You walk into the police station — we’re a channel into therapy,” he said. “By maximizing these open courses into the lifesaving treatment I think is how is how we make a difference.”
Corbally said the Safe Response Team is estimating it will respond to two to five overdoses per week and seven to 15 each month.
