The Seattle & King County Public Health Department is ramping up efforts to distribute naloxone and other harm-reducing medications to address rising drug overdose deaths.
Brad Finegood, strategic advisor at the department, gave an update on its overdose prevention efforts at a Washington State Board of Health meeting on Wednesday. He said more than 1,300 people died of a drug overdose in King County last year.
“Of those 1,300 people who died of a drug overdose, over 1,000 of those were fentanyl-related overdoses,” Finegood said. “So about 80 percent of our overall deaths are impacted (by) fentanyl. In 2015, when I first came to the county, we had three fentanyl overdose deaths.”
The department recently unveiled its five-year public health strategic plan. It focuses on climate and health; emerging threats to community health and well-being; information, impact, and innovation; partnerships; and workforce and infrastructure. The department’s overdose prevention efforts are included in its emerging threats to community health and well-being category.
“We have four objectives with our goal to make evidence-based, culturally-appropriate services available for everybody who uses substances and reducing stigma, with the end result of reducing overdose deaths,” Finegood said.
King County plans to continue to evaluate overdose prevention activities; conduct 36 trainings per year and produce at least one communication campaign by 2026; increase the distribution of harm reduction resources and supplies; and increase access and linkage to evidence-based medications for opioid use disorder.
“If people want medication, we need to make sure they have access to it. That’s truly the most effective form of overdose prevention we can deploy.”
— Finegood
The department utilizes several key programs for prevention and early intervention efforts, which include awareness and education campaigns, education and training for community members and providers, overdose prevention text alerts—about 10,000 people who use substances/providers are signed up for the text alert line—and the Youth Healing Project.
Staff trained over 1,050 people on overdose prevention and response, had more than 3,000 engagements with public information campaigns, and distributed over 19,000 posters, pamphlets, and educational materials in 2024, Finegood said.
King County has a harm-reduction clearinghouse where people can order supplies like fentanyl test strips and naloxone, Finegood said. It has five harm-reduction vending machines across the county, syringe service programs, and mobile medical and street medicine teams.
“We are now deploying—with the Washington State Health Care Authority—mobile methadone where people are at. And we’re starting Naloxone Leave Behind programs with our EMS providers. We started a 24/7 buprenorphine line so anybody in King County can call at any time of day and get access to a prescriber to get a prescription for buprenorphine at no cost.”
— Finegood
The department has distributed more than 63,600 naloxone kits, more than 63,300 fentanyl test strips, and tested more than 450 drug samples in 2024, Finegood said.
Those interested in learning more about health initiatives in the state can register to attend the 2024 Washington State of Reform Health Policy Conference on Oct. 17 at the Spokane Convention Center. An “Examining the Evolving Behavioral Health Landscape” panel will discuss recent work to address substance use disorders at 2:15 p.m.