How NH Safe Stations are Saving Lives
Note: If you, or someone you know, is struggling with substance misuse, visit a Safe Station (including any of the fire stations in Manchester or Nashua), to speak with a fire fighter or EMT and get connected to treatment and recovery services. The Safe Stations are open 24/7. In addition, you can seek help by calling the New Hampshire Statewide Crisis Hotline: 1–844–711-HELP.
The heroin, opioid, and fentanyl crisis is the most pressing public health and safety challenge facing our state, devastating families, businesses, and communities in every corner of New Hampshire. As we continue working together every day on a comprehensive strategy to combat this crisis and help save lives, it is essential that Granite Staters currently struggling with addiction know about the resources available now to support them on the road to recovery.
One resource available to Granite Staters in Nashua, Manchester, and certain other communities across the state is the Safe Stations initiative. Thanks to our brave fire fighters and EMTs, Granite Staters struggling with substance misuse can be directed to treatment and recovery services in a safe environment — no matter the time of day or day of the week — by visiting a participating fire station.
Implemented last year, the Safe Station program establishes a safe environment where individuals seeking help with substance misuse can come to a fire station to speak with an on-duty fire fighter or EMT and immediately be directed to treatment and recovery services.
Last week, I had the privilege of visiting Nashua Fire Station Number 4, which participates in the Safe Station initiative.
During my visit, the fire fighters and EMTs on duty shared with me stories of individuals who have come to fire stations that serve as Safe Stations because of the safe, welcoming, and non-judgmental environment they have created, helping individuals find a way out of their addiction and onto the path to recovery.
Leaders at Nashua Fire Station Number 4 also shared with me a thank you letter they received from a mother who brought her daughter to the station recently late on a Sunday night. The mother was particularly grateful for the care and attention the fire fighters and EMTs provided to her daughter, who is now fully detoxed and on the road to recovery.
One of the things I love most about New Hampshire is the “all-hands-on-deck” spirit of our people, where we roll up our sleeves, pitch in, and work together to address our challenges and strengthen our communities. This spirit was on full display during the briefing last week, which included fire fighters, EMTs, public safety officials, local community leaders, and employees of American Medical Response Transportation. When an announcement about the arrival of an individual in need of assistance at another Safe Station in Nashua came through the intercom during our meeting, the phones of everyone in the room started to buzz with a notification, a reminder of the collaboration necessary to make the Safe Station initiative possible.
As our fire fighters and EMTs and others on the front lines continue to battle the substance misuse crisis, we know that there is more work to do to stem — and ultimately reverse — the tide of this horrible epidemic.
I will continue fighting to ensure that our fire fighters, EMTs, and staff of ambulance services participating in the Safe Station initiative — and all of those battling substance misuse on the front lines — have the resources they need to do their jobs effectively. I will also continue working to expand treatment, prevention, and recovery services throughout the state and to protect Medicaid expansion and another key provision of the Affordable Care Act that requires insurance companies to cover substance use disorder treatment.
We know that this fight is far from over, but I am inspired by the fire fighters and EMTs I met last week who are helping to strengthen public health and public safety by lending a hand to those struggling with addiction. And most importantly, they are proving what is possible when we work together. By continuing to work together we can — and will — stem and turn the tide of addiction in the Granite State.
