As D.C. Mayor Muriel E. Bowser on Monday marked a milestone in the District’s response to rising opioid deaths, she challenged calls for tools to fight the opioid and fentanyl crisis that have been deployed in Virginia and Maryland for years.
Standing before large blue reclining chairs intended for patients at the opening of the city’s first stabilization center, Bowser (D) celebrated the District’s progress and addressed mounting public pressure for her administration to go further and declare a public health emergency.
Bowser said she would “strongly consider” the move if the D.C. Council could show how powers that come with it, such as federal reimbursement and expediting contracts, could make a difference.
“Declaring an emergency in name only means absolutely nothing, so if that is what the council is talking about we have no interest in that,” Bowser said at a news conference in the center at 35 K St. NE.
Officials on Monday described the long-awaited sobering center as a key element of a broader strategy to reduce deaths and free up hospital beds at a time when annual overdose fatalities are on pace to exceed last year’s high of 461.
While anyone can walk into the 16-bed center for help with addiction, a steady stream of patients is expected to arrive via emergency services personnel, who transported about 3,800 people to emergency departments for treatment last year alone.
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Calling substance abuse “one of our city’s major challenges,” Bowser said the sobering center will provide empathetic care and connect people with treatment, if they want it.
“When people get the right care, they have better outcomes. And the right care is not always calling 911 and sitting in an emergency room,” she said.
The center’s opening comes amid pointed criticism in recent months from advocates and some D.C. Council members eager to transform the way the city tackles overdoses and prevention. How to stop the deaths, which have disproportionately affected older Black men, has become a focus of public debate as a commission begins crafting recommendations for how the city should spend an anticipated $80 million in opioid settlement dollars.
Christina Henderson (I-At Large), chairwoman of the council’s health committee, said declaring a public health emergency could make it possible for agencies to quickly act on programs such as targeted outreach and peer support, as well as education grants the council awarded early this year.
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She applauded the opening of the center, along with a proposed second center in Columbia Heights that is a year or more from opening, and said that if there’s a third it should be east of the Anacostia River, where residents are disproportionately affected by opioids.
“I feel as though the District is truly at an inflection point in an emergency,” Henderson said, pointing to the more than 5,200 nonfatal suspected overdoses in the last fiscal year. “It’s about time that we got this place open.”
The main room at the Northeast center will hold 16 short-term beds where, officials said, people can stay for up to 23 hours, though they will probably need less than half that time to recover and move on. Another six beds will be open for people to stay up to three days at a time.
The location on K Street, where the District already runs a mental health clinic, will have operations costs of about $2.9 million in the first year and $2.4 million next year, city officials have said.
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Robert Holman, medical director at DC Fire and EMS, said all personnel have received mandatory training on how to bring patients to the center and who is eligible, including intoxicated adults who qualify based on their vital signs and responsiveness. Insurance is not required, and as with any health-care facility, patient information will be confidential.
After drop-off, which should take no longer than 10 minutes, patients can shower, change clothes, and consult with nurses, social workers and peer counselors with similar experience and get connected to treatment, if desired. Staff will be trained to administer the overdose antidote naloxone, officials said.
“Instead of this population of patients continuing to go through the revolving door of the emergency department, they will enter the open door of this new specialized care facility,” Holman said. “They will get the dedicated, compassionate care they need to help end their addiction and, when they are ready, to be able to enter this sustainable path for recovery.”
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D.C. native Eric Scott, 52, a certified peer specialist with the community response team at the Department of Behavioral Health who has been in recovery for 10 years, said his experience with homelessness and drug use helps him connect to people who could benefit from the center.
“Just give yourself a chance. You can change,” he said he tells them.
Critics have questioned the care model, with some preferring safe-consumption or overdose-prevention sites, which allow for supervised drug use; such sites are more common in Europe but rare in the United States. They also have asked if Community Bridges, the Arizona-based company selected to run the sobering center, can understand the particular needs of District residents and gain the trust of the community. The company has referred questions to the city.
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Barbara J. Bazron, director of D.C.’s Department of Behavioral Health, said the company has expertise running about two dozen such facilities; it must submit regular reports on patients and how many were connected to treatment; and at least half of staff members must be D.C. residents.
Bazron, who opened a sobering center in Baltimore when she worked for the Maryland Department of Health, said anyone can use the D.C. center regardless of immigration status, and there’s no limit on how often someone can visit.
“This is low barrier. We want people to come here, and how you get there is not the issue but that you get here,” she said.
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