Restaurants in Alexandria, Va., are embracing a new way of giving back to their community: Saving the lives of opioid abusers.
Under a program begun in January, the local establishments are invited to tack another 10 to 15 minutes onto their next routine check by a health inspector for a primer on saving the life of someone overdosing on fentanyl, Oxycodone or another opioid.
The instruction is basic, covering such elementary issues as how to tell if someone is overdosing and how to administer the antidote, a shot of Narcan nasal spray. The aerosol is provided free to the establishments, along with strips upon request for detecting when a drug has been cut with fentanyl, a cheap and often lethal additive.
Restaurants that opt for the training are presented with a window cling to alert the public that they’re participating in the Opioid Response Partner program. About 54 restaurants are participating to date, with roughly 100 employees having been trained, according to Emily Bentley, director of opioid response for the city of Alexandria.
Photograph courtesy of Alexandria Department of Health
The program is a collaboration between the department and the city’s Department of Community and Human Services.
Restaurants were identified as key partners early in the planning for the venture because they touch such a broad swath of the local population, says Bentley. “Our restaurant community is the only system that truly serves the entire diversity of Alexandria, Va., from the Chart House on the waterfront,” a high-end steakhouse, “to some of the mom and pops in the West End.”
The city is a dining mecca of sorts for the area, abounding in restaurants of all types and price levels.
Plus, the city’s restaurant inspection program offered a readymade framework for delivering the instruction. Representatives of the health department will be in the establishments anyway, and they’re accustomed to sharing safety practices with operators. An education pipeline was already there.
Establishments are asked by the health officials if they want their employees trained. The department representatives can either present the training then or schedule it for their next visit.
The city does not collect data on how many deaths were prevented because of the program. Bentley could not provide a figure on how many fewer overdose deaths have occurred since the program began.
But she noted that the initiative has been warmly embraced by restaurant employees because so many have been touched by the opioid crisis.
“We know it’s a tough industry, it’s a high turnover industry. It often has people who have suffered some sort of substance abuse in their background,” she says.
Employees are encouraged to bring a container of Narcan home with them if they feel its use could be required there. “A lot of facilities have asked us for replacement naloxone,” says Bentley, using the generic name for Narcan.
Statistically, Alexandria has no worse of an opioid problem than the towns, cities and counties that surround it, according to Bentley. But few are the communities, Alexandria included, that don’t have a problem with abuse of the opium derivatives, which are widely prescribed for pain relief.
One surprise of the program is the push it’s given to talking about opioid abuse. “It takes the stigma out of the conversation,” says Bentley. “The restaurants put forward a reason for conversation that leads to so many micro-conversations, and that’s critical.”
The Alexandria Health Department has been contacted by other jurisdictions interested in starting a similar program, according to Eve Elliott, a spokesperson for the agency. “AHD has shared our templates and materials,” Elliott said in an email. “It would be great to see the program started in other areas to reduce stigma and potentially save lives.”
Bentley readily agrees. She invites restaurateurs or health officials elsewhere to reach out to her at emily.bentley@alexandriava.gov.
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