SEATTLE - The picture of Seattle’s opioid epidemic became a little clearer on Tuesday morning, as city leaders gathered at the Seattle Fire Department headquarters.
There, while unveiling a progress report on a pilot program to combat overdoses, Fire Chief Harold Scoggins explained how his crews are responding to 103 overdose calls per week on average. In fact, they’ve surpassed 4,000 calls this year. That’s more than all of 2022, with more than three months left on the calendar.
"Overdoses are happening around the city, all around the clock," said Chief Scoggins.
One solution, part of what Mayor Harrell called a continuum of strategies, involves the Health 99 team—a pilot program that started in July as an overdose response unit.
