Specifications include, but are not limited to: Operation of a 24/7 overdose prevention, monitoring, and response hotline that is secure, confidential, and free. Training and on-boarding of hotline operators, including appropriate customer service skills. Supervision and support of all hotline operators. Marketing and communications of the hotline resource. Continuous quality improvement practices. The desired service will be a peer-led and operated hotline. Operators will receive phone calls from people who are using substances while alone in their car, home, public restroom, work, or other private or semi-private settings. The peer support operators will be trained in overdose safety planning based on method of consumption (injecting, smoking, snorting, rectal administration, ingestion), how to detect an adverse drug event such as an overdose, and to contact either a predetermined responder (such as a friend or family member in the same building or location) or the local emergency medical services agency who will respond to the location and assist in reversing acute medical conditions. The hotline will operate 24 hours/day, the service will be completely free, and will use a toll-free number. Services will be private and confidential. The operators will conduct a brief intake, which includes the person’s preferred name or alias to establish trust and rapport, substance being used, route of administration being used, and the exact location of the individual. The operator will provide customized guidance to the caller, including to not sit up against any closed doors, to lock up any pets, and to reduce environmental hazards if a first responder is called. If a caller does become unresponsive, the operator will use a secure service to dispatch either the named and preferred responder or the local 911 dispatch. The operator will relay to dispatch that they have a person on the phone who may be in respiratory distress and will give dispatch the exact location and details of the unresponsive caller. The operator will stay on the phone with the caller until first responders arrive at the scene and take over care...
