The Springfield Fire Department has installed Naloxone Resource Distribution Boxes at each of the city’s 13 fire stations. Naloxone can quickly reverse an opioid overdose and save lives.
There are now more than 25 locations in Springfield where anyone can access the medication for free, no questions asked. The boxes have been installed in publicly accessible locations outside each SFD fire station, and anyone can access them at any time.
"Our mission is to serve our community," said the Springfield Fire Department’s battalion chief Christopher Rouch. "And for us that means evaluating what the hazards, which ones we can address and then, you know, develop a plan of action, and so, when we still have members of our community dying from a preventable overdose, and we have these trusted pillars of the community, fire station properties where people feel safe to come and access resources, it just kind of becomes a no-brainer for us to do something like this."
Each kit contains naloxone that is administered through the nose and instructions as well as a mouth guard in case CPR is needed.
Rouch said the last Naloxone Resource Distribution Box was installed just a few days ago, and people are using them.
"We started on Friday, and we finished yesterday (Tuesday), but we're already seeing — I think our last count, we ran around today (Wednesday) and did some counting, and we have more than 60 kits that have been picked up from these...14 boxes, so we know it's getting out there," he said.
The boxes at Fire Stations 3, 8 and 13 needed to be restocked within the first few days, according to the Springfield Fire Department.
The initiative is part of the fire department’s Community Risk Reduction strategy to reduce overdose deaths by increasing access to naloxone before it’s needed. The department also has offered the Leave-Behind program since 2023 where firefighters provide naloxone kits and education to people following overdose-related emergency responses.
He said people have called to let them know that they've used those kits to save a family member's life or to save a stranger's life.
"I'm encourage by that, and I know that, if it works, you know, when we're distributing it on the firetrucks at the point of need," he said, "then it's going to work when we're distributing it in this passive way for anybody to come up...24/7, no questions asked, and to access it for themselves."
