Countywide forum addresses Richmond overdose rate, which is highest in Contra Costa 

In years past, if someone in Richmond called 911 about an overdose, the response almost always came from the police. But if you were to call 911 about an opioid overdose in Richmond today, help often comes in the form of the city’s new crisis-response programs. 

These programs are gradually shifting Richmond’s opioid treatment approach away from emergency law enforcement and toward coordinated care. 

This new citywide coordinated response overhaul was the focus of the Opioid Awareness Community Forum held Thursday at Richmond Memorial Auditorium. For the first time, all of Richmond’s emergency response departments, public health agencies and community organizations were gathered under one roof to discuss and confront opioid overdoses, which quietly take dozens of local lives every year.

“No single organization can do this work alone,” said LaShonda White, deputy city manager of community services. “It takes collaboration, empathy, and shared responsibility to ensure every person in our city and county has access to care, dignity and a chance to recover.”

Other coordination efforts talked about at the event included how Richmond’s Fire Department now reports overdose cases to health partners for continued care after administering naloxone (Narcan) and how Contra Costa County’s Health Department programs connect individuals to mental health and substance use treatment across the county. 

“Thirty years ago, this system of care didn’t exist. So I’m happy and proud to be part of a team that can respond to someone who is in crisis,” said Eric Jackson, substance use program supervisor for Anyone, Anywhere, Anytime (A3), a program launched by Contra Costa County in 2023. Now, he said, “it doesn’t have to be a crisis for A3 to respond.”

At the meeting, Phia Halleen, coordinator for the health nonprofit Contra Costa MEDS Coalition, presented data from the California Department of Public Health showing Richmond has the county’s highest overdose death rate, with 48.8 deaths per 100,000 people, nearly double the statewide average. 

For Fatima Matal Sol, Contra Costa County’s opioid response coordinator, the Richmond forum is just the beginning of a broader strategy that began after a string of fatal overdoses in the county. 

“We’re here because we’re tracking data on a monthly, daily, weekly basis, making sure we monitor how the epidemic is evolving. So our response and interventions match the need of the community,” she said. 

Matal Sol said other key initiatives include how the county is distributing free Narcan through community vending machines across the region and has plans to hold smaller, school-based events to reach families who might not otherwise have access to information or treatment. 

Matal Sol said, “We are going to continue holding more events, probably on a smaller scale, going down into the community, into schools.” 

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