POST Program During Annual Overdose Aware

PITTSBURGH — The City of Pittsburgh and the Department of Public Safety today recognized Overdose Awareness Day at the annual resource fair held on the portico of the City-County Building. During the event, the Office of Community Health and Safety (OCHS) formally launched the Post Overdose Support Team (POST) program. 

“With drug overdose deaths on the rise in the City of Pittsburgh, we can no longer turn a blind eye to our neighbors in need.  My team in OCHS and I are committed to offering invaluable resources and care in order to save the lives of our most vulnerable residents,” said Mayor Ed Gainey.  “Today and every day, we remember the lives of those we lost, and in their memory will fight to bring about change and offer preventative services so that drug overdoses are not a death sentence.” 

POST is a collaborative effort involving local first responders (particularly Emergency Medical Services), case managers, certified peer recovery specialists, treatment providers, and social service providers with the aim of giving support to individuals who have recently experienced an overdose. The goal of the program is to prevent recurrent overdoses and improve quality of life by focusing on evidence-based treatment and intensive case management, instead of criminalization. 

The city was awarded a $1 million grant through the Substance Abuse and Mental Health Services Administration (SAMHSA) to launch and support the work of POST. 

“This generous federal grant through SAMHSA will allow our OCHS teams of case managers and peer recovery specialists the ability to provide support, services, and resources to those experiencing recurring overdoses,“ said Camila Alarcon, Assistant Director of Public Safety. “Programs like POST save lives. OCHS will continue to provide low-barrier, person-centered, trauma-informed support and service navigation to empower people in reaching their recovery goals.” 

Many people who experience an overdose, after being revived by EMS, decline further medical care. POST works by receiving a request from a responding EMS unit that has successfully treated an individual who overdosed and then declined hospital transport. Once EMS has addressed the immediate patient needs and determines the individual is stable, they contact POST for a secondary response and a warm handoff. POST then continues to provide follow up support and intensive case management. 

POST will initially be piloting in Medic Districts 14, 8, and 2. Those medic districts correspond to where Pittsburgh EMS's recent overdose data indicates an exponential increase in overdoses—Downtown, South Side, and the south hills neighborhoods. 

In the City of Pittsburgh, POST will be a driving force in the development of programs that prioritize health equity and promote harm reduction practices, ultimately improving outcomes for people who use drugs. The Office of Community Health and Safety is excited to continue to increase cross-sector collaboration as they work to decrease rates of fatal overdoses among people who suffer from substance use disorders.

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