Last year, drug overdoses killed
more people in Travis County than
homicides and car crashes combined.
It's the leading cause of accidental deaths,
according to the Travis County
medical examiner's office. That's
why both Austin and Travis County
have declared drug overdoses
as a public health crisis,
but one public safety agency
is already helping the CV.
Defenders take a closer look at
the opioid problem or excuse me?
The opioid program started by
Austin Travis County EMS to
see how well it's working.
It's meant to bridge the gap from addiction
to recovery as those with opioid use
disorder begin their road to sobriety.
Here's investigative reporter Jenny Lee.
Yeah, it says here that.
They're under the southbound side bridge.
It's a side of work.
Paramedics do most don't see or
know of alrighty man hours outside
bridge that I'll make sure I put
a note in and I'll put you in.
Now be careful man.
Mike Sasser is a community
health paramedic with
Austin. Travis County EMS. He's got one focus
cause at least once a week.
I go follow up on an overdose
and have a conversation.
So I mean like because they
got resuscitated with Narcan.
That typically means that you
use opioids because that's the
only thing that Narcan works on.
Sasser helps those battling opioid use.
Disorder. But he shows up after the
patient has been treated for an overdose,
and after that patient asks for help
because we're kind of up against the clock.
We follow Sasser making scheduled rounds.
At first, a homeless woman
suffering from withdrawals.
So the last time you had anything to
use was yesterday when you overdose
after evaluating the patient,
Sasser treats her with buprenorphine,
an FDA approved medication that stops
withdrawal symptoms and reduces cravings.
The buprenorphine bridge program helps
patients get treatment while waiting
to get into a recovery program.
The whole program is summed up
into a pretty simple conversation.
After somebody experiences an overdose,
you go to their house and say, hey?
Are you OK? Because you just
went through some really heavy
stuff yesterday and you might
have a problem and you need help.
Between visits. An overdose
call near Riverside Dr and I-35.
But before we arrive
he woke up after the Arcanum and
said, I'm good and wandered off
the man who overdosed on fentanyl
already left. It only takes 2 to
5 minutes for Narcan to work,
because if somebody hadn't been
here to stop him, to
Narcan him, he'd be dead.
The entire country,
including the Austin area,
is in the midst of an opioid
overdose epidemic. Since 20,
nineteen 911 calls for opiate
overdoses have increased every year,
from 337 in 2019 to 368 and 2020,
that number jumps to 662 in 2021 and
from January to May of this year.
Austin Travis County EMS has already
responded to 436 overdose calls.
High number of 911 overdose calls makes
scheduled visits even more crucial.
This time
I've been using like benzos and
opiates since I was about 15.
Alan Ramirez invited us inside his home,
allowed us to show him, take the
buprenorphine and shared his story.
So I had cut the tendons and both
of these fingers and I had to have
a couple surgeries and I ended up.
Abusing my pain prescriptions
the 26 year old's addiction
quickly escalated.
I had to start getting stuff
off of the street and then
everything had fed and all in it.
This is Ramirez's second
attempt at sobriety this year,
but he's optimistic because of
that buprenorphine bridge program.
It's pretty rough.
There's not a lot of options,
you know, and a lot.
A lot of people willing to
help that are understanding so
you know a program like this.
I feel like it really does offer a lot.
And it's been extremely helpful for me.
That's a really good program. I like it.
John Ariano feels the same.
He thinks he has a good shot at staying
sober this time around because of
the buprenorphine bridge program.
It really is a big difference
because it just shows it like
like someone that doesn't even
know you like they're metro.
They in your life is like is it is
willing to like to take the time
out of their day to tell people.
Addiction is not about having fun or
getting high or anything like that.
It's about not feeling bad. Paramedic
Mike Sasser should know he's been
in recovery for 20 years. Yeah,
and when you come in and focus on this
is a medical condition and we need to
address this as a medical condition
and this is what you're experiencing.
People like you understand this.
You understand where I'm coming from.
I'm not the only one.
According to Austin, Travis County EMS,
nearly 200 patients have gone through
the buprenorphine bridge program
since it launched in December 2020.
It's considered a success because
about 85% of those clients also
finished their first seven days of a
recovery program, like Guerin Aguilar.
Like it was like, oxycodone Oxycontin.
Hydrocodone just a lot of opium
because I had a lot of pain.
That pain started after he
survived a car wreck in 2016.
The owner of the car let him drive
started going really fast like
down Barton Springs and then like
70 mph in a residential zone.
And then he wraps us around a tree
for the next three years.
Aguilar relied on pain
medication to get through,
losing his hearing in his right
ear and several surgeries.
Then the pandemic hit in 2020.
That was another kind of pain,
the isolation, the school of the work.
He relied on opioids to calm his anxieties,
spending around $13,000.
Aguilar was finally ready for
help last year and signed up for
the buprenorphine bridge program.
How helpful has
this program been to you?
Would you say it saved your life 100%?
It definitely saved my life.
Egular now plans to graduate with
a double major from St Edwards
University next year and take the LSAT.
The 21 year old. Eventually wants to
help others struggling with drug issues,
offering free legal services
for those who can't afford it.
Helping others, like the Community
health paramedics who helped
him for the KV defenders.
I'm Jenny Lee.
Jenny thank says the opioid
program falls under what
Community health paramedics do.
There is no extra cost to run it.
The only cost is the salary
of Mike Sasser, the paramedic.
You just heard from who's credited
with starting that program.