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Colerain Township Quick Response Team

A post-overdose response program outside of Cincinnati, Ohio that provides emergency medical response to individuals who overdose with subsequent outreach to engage them in treatment

Operational since 2015 as one of the first post-overdose response teams in the nation, the Colerain Quick Response Team (QRT) is a collaborative effort of the Colerain Township Police Department, the Colerain Department of Fire and EMS, and the Addiction Services Council of Greater Cincinnati to reduce the number of opioid overdoses in their community.

The three-member QRT team consists of a community-based substance use disorder counselor, a specially trained police officer,and a firefighter/paramedic.  The team responds to overdose-related medical emergencies and also provides follow-up to individuals who have overdosed within 3 to 5 days of the event in order to provide educational resources, engage individuals and their families/caregivers in treatment, and provide support.

The goals of the program are to reduce overdose deaths and recurrent overdoses, to increase victims’ and their families’ awareness of available resources, and provide a supportive network. This model has been replicated in other communities across Ohio and in at least five states, including Ohio, North Carolina, Kentucky, Pennsylvania and West Virginia

More information can be found in this presentation.

Contact information for this program and helpful resources to implement a QRT in your community can be found here.

Program associated with a 42% reduction in overdose calls from 2017 to 2019....nearly 80% of those contacted seek treatment.  

Continuum of Care
Treatment
Type of Evidence
Replicated
Implemented
Response Approach
Early Intervention
Post-overdose response
Peer-reviewed Article
Naloxone Plus, Plus Some: Examining Ohio's Quick Response Teams Through the Lens of Deflection
Related Resources
A Scoping Review of Post Opioid-Overdose Interventions
Evidence-Based Strategies for Preventing Opioid Overdose: What’s Working in the United States
Building Successful Partnerships between Law Enforcement and Public Health Agencies to Address Opioid Use
Law Enforcement Efforts to Fight the Opioid Crisis
Law Enforcement Pre-Arrest Diversion Resource Guide
Ten Standards of Care: Policing and the Opioid Crisis
The Unprecedented Opioid Epidemic: As Overdoses Become a Leading Cause of Death, Police, Sheriffs, and Health Agencies Must Step Up Their Response
RxStat: A Public Health and Public Safety Collaboration for Responding to Problem Drug Use at the Municipal/County Level

Evidence of Program Effectiveness

Although the program has been replicated in many other places, the program has not been formally evaluated, although they self-report that almost 80% of persons who are successfully contacted by the QRT team seek inpatient or outpatient treatment. 

According to a recent news article: 

“Emergency personnel responded to 139 overdoses in 2019, a 42% drop since their high point in 2017 of 238 overdose calls, and this reduction is thanks to the QRT....The QRT initially responds to an overdose run, but then the team members make a follow-up visit to the overdose patient. Officials say these follow-up visits have contributed to 259 patients seeking addiction treatment.”