Addiction Prevention Coalition describes naloxone “1Box” rollout, training and local services to Homewood council

Nicole Dolsey, a representative of the Addiction Prevention Coalition, told the Homewood City Council on March 10 that the coalition has deployed naloxone “1Box” units and provided trainings and other services across Homewood and the surrounding region.

The presentation outlined the coalition’s local work and resources while explaining how the 1Box units operate: each contains two doses of naloxone (Narcan) and a one-minute instructional video in English and Spanish that a bystander can play at the scene of an overdose. "Narcan is not hard to administer, but a lot of times people panic when there's an emergency," Dolsey said, explaining the rationale for the video guidance.

Dolsey said the program in Alabama began with funding from the state’s opioid settlement and that the coalition also has a federal Substance Abuse and Mental Health Services Administration (SAMHSA) grant to support trainings. She told council members the coalition trained 23 Homewood residents in 2024 and distributed 65 naloxone kits in the city. She also said, as reported in her remarks to the council, that 48 "1Box" units have been deployed in Homewood; she earlier said Fire Chief Broadhead requested 40 units as an early adopter. The coalition’s speaker provided those counts during the presentation; where multiple counts were mentioned during the remarks, Dolsey attributed the numbers to the program’s internal tallies.

Dolsey described multiple free services the coalition offers: adult and youth mental-health-first-aid trainings aligned with school core standards; peer-support provided by people in long-term recovery; suicide-prevention sessions; a telephone warm line for families seeking treatment or recovery housing; school-based K–12 curricula that teach coping and resiliency skills; and youth leadership and peer-helping programs. She said the coalition trains adults who work with youth and also trains teenagers to support each other “not to take the place of a trusted adult, rather to augment it or to support it.”

She said the coalition does not track caller demographics for the warm line, so it cannot report how many callers are Homewood residents. Dolsey also invited council members to a public event she described as the coalition’s ninth annual End Addiction Walk at City Walk on April 5, which she said typically draws about 3,000 people and is free to attend.

The presentation was informational; the council did not take formal action on any request during the item. Dolsey left business cards with the city clerk for follow-up contact.

Dolsey and the coalition provided the figures and program descriptions to council members during the presentation; the council did not adopt or amend any city policy during the briefing.