Spokane receives $1 million to combat opioid crisis

SPOKANE, Wash. -- Spokane's Fire Department will receive $500,000 dollars as part of a larger allocation to help combat the city's opioid crisis.

The funding will go to SFD's CARES Team (Community Assistance Response Team). The team, currently a department of one, aims to provide ongoing help to those experiencing homelessness and drug addiction.

One priority for the funding is to grow the CARES team from one to four employees so they can increase their case load from 600 to 1,500.

"Our team has already been struggling with capacity and trying to respond to every referral we get. We don't refuse anything," said Sarah Foley of Spokane CARES.

According to Foley, the team's goal is to follow up with individuals after responding to an initial crisis, in hopes of preventing more crises from happening.

"It frees up our engine companies to be available and response to medical emergencies, fire, things like that," said Foley.

The funding is just one installment of many from the state's opioid lawsuit settlement. Spokane expects to receive nearly $13.3 million over the next 17 years.

Councilmember Paul Dillon expressed his support for the effort.

"I think that we should be looking at every resource we can to better respond to this crisis," said Councilmember Dillon.

CORRECTION: A previous version of this article incorrectly state the Spokane Fire Department would receive $1 million. SFD is getting $500,000 with $1 million total for the city.

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