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Drug overdose deaths around Kansas City are dropping. What's working?

Free narcan dispensers have been installed at Raytown fire stations.
Carlos Moreno
/
KCUR
Free Narcan dispensers have been installed at Raytown fire stations.

Fewer Kansas Citians are dying of drug overdoses, the first decrease in over a decade. A local public health worker and a community paramedic explain what’s contributed to the turnaround and what needs to happen to keep the positive trend going.

Over the last decade, drug overdose deaths in Missouri and Kansas have continued to climb every year, and often by double-digit percentages. That is, until 2023, when public health officials in both states saw overdose deaths decline by at least 10%, mirroring national data.

In Missouri, preliminary data for 2024 shows a 34% drop in overdose deaths. While there are still many unknowns when it comes to the dramatic turnaround, local experts agree that the prevalence of the drug naloxone, known by its brand name Narcan, has something to do with it.

Earlier this month, Jackson County Public Health installed free Narcan dispensers at all three Raytown Fire Stations, making the overdose-reversal drug more accessible to residents.

Matt Cushman, a community paramedic with the Raytown Fire Protection District, says programs like these play a role in lowering overdose numbers.

"I think there's definitive, correlative evidence to support that what we're doing by both having public, accessible Narcan — as well as our ambulance crews and fire crews leaving Narcan behind when they have an overdose call — getting those out in our neighborhoods (is a) critical component to reducing fatality," Cushman said.

  • Seth Middleton, program coordinator at Jackson County Public Health
  • Matt Cushman, community paramedic at the Raytown Fire Protection District
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