Addiction Treatment and Prevention Supported by Fire Department in Round Rock

ROUND ROCK, Texas - April 17, 2018 - PRLog -- The local fire department has started a plan to assist people who need addiction treatment or mental health services.

An extension of the national Community Risk Reduction program, the program works with first responders and could be studied to create future prevention protocols, explained Fire Chief Robert Isbell.

"When the fire department goes out and interacts with the public every day, we see all forms of human suffering," Isbell said. "[We're] facilitating and coordinating all the community advocacy groups and services available to try to make a change — in their environment, in their physical and in their mental health. If we can touch this in a holistic view, we believe we can reduce the risk of them ever needing to call 911."

With the help of a grant from the Texas Health and Human Services Commission, the fire department will hire more emergency staff and distribute naloxone.

Last year, EMS crews in Williamson County administered naloxone 139 times, nearly 60 more times than in 2016.

Medical professionals and government officials believe that the opioid crisis' effect in Texas has been underestimated. The US Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC)  Vitalsigns reported Texas as a state with insufficient data on opioid-related emergency department visits in the past year.

In his work with first responders, Isbell has noticed how effective medication-assisted treatment has been in addiction recovery. They've also been able to streamline the process of helping people get admitted into drug detox after responding to an emergency call.

The ability of the program to improve people's lives have been a motivating factor in the department's endeavors; as a result, the community has been responsive to it.

Isbell said that it means a great deal "when you know that because of the intervention that you've provided, there's been an improvement of quality of life. That's life's work right there, there's no better feeling."

He hopes the program will influence future nationwide prevention programs.

"This is a direction we need to be turning our focus," he said. "Our purpose is to care for people and, if we take that to heart, this community risk reduction model is what every fire department should be embracing."

https://www.drugaddictionnow.com/2018/04/16/addiction-tre...