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Arlington paramedics begin field buprenorphine inductions through CARES 'CORE' program
Summary
City paramedics have started a CORE program that allows trained paramedics to give buprenorphine after opioid overdoses and connect patients to follow-up care through the CARES program; officials say the first field induction happened last week.
Matt Hickman, the city’s temporary assistant chief of medical services, told the City Council that Arlington Fire Department paramedics have launched a CORE program — an extension of the department’s CARES (Community Assistance, Referral, and Education Services) outreach — and performed the department’s first buprenorphine induction last week.
Hickman said the program gives paramedics a new tool to reduce repeated overdoses and to connect patients to immediate follow-up services through CARES. “We actually went live with this core program just this month and had our 1st buprenorphine induction last week,” he said.
Why it matters: Buprenorphine is a partial opioid agonist that can reduce cravings and withdrawal symptoms and make recurrent overdose less likely, officials said. Hickman described buprenorphine as a middle ground that can relieve withdrawal without producing dangerous respiratory depression. He said the CORE program also relies on CARES for next-day follow-up, priority referrals with treatment partners and practical supports such as transport or help obtaining prescriptions.
Hickman walked council members through likely post‑overdose paths: a patient who agrees to hospital treatment would be referred to Providence because of its medications-for-opioid-use-disorder program; a patient ready for immediate outpatient treatment could get a “warm handoff” directly to Ideal Option when clinics are open; if clinics are closed, staff use a 24/7 referral hotline to schedule follow-up (a “cold handoff”). If patients refuse services, Hickman said crews still provide Narcan, resource guides and CARES contact information to “plant a seed.” He added that roughly one in six encounters leads to a buprenorphine induction.
Councilmember Heather Logan praised the approach and compared it to the city’s embedded social worker program, noting those workers perform many follow-up tasks but cannot administer buprenorphine. Hickman said two paramedics are trained now and the department plans to scale training across its 32 paramedics over time. He also said Narcan distribution and education have been provided on every opioid-overdose call for about 10 months.
The presentation was informational; council did not take formal action.
