Tag: wa

SEATTLE – Each year, hundreds of people die of an overdose in Seattle. 

Now, the city is taking a step forward in trying to combat the crisis. Under a new program, Seattle Fire paramedics will be allowed to administer a new medication that helps people suffering from withdrawal. 

Seattle Mayor Bruce Harrell says the drug is known to cut the risk of death by half.  

The fire chief says the Health 99 Unit, staffed with firefighter EMTs and a Human Services Department caseworker, is one part of the Seattle Fire Department’s next evolution in saving lives in an opioid epidemic. 

On average, firefighters have been responding to around 100 overdose patients a week, or 400 a month.  

“Emergency responders on the front line of this epidemic sadly respond to overdoses on a daily basis,” said Seattle Fire Chief Harold Scoggins.

Statistics show a shocking rise in overdose calls over the past few years. Harrell says in 2021, the fire department responded to an average of 4.7 overdose calls per day. In 2022, that number jumped to 10.3 and in 2023, it skyrocketed to 15.4. 

So far, in 2024, numbers are tracking at 14.2 overdoses daily. 

“These numbers are inclusive of all suspected drugs that we face,” said Scoggins.

To add more tools to the kit, trained firefighter paramedics will now be able to administer Buprenorphine, which is also known as suboxone, to patients that they encounter in the field. 

“It works by lowering the cravings that people have for more fentanyl and by preventing fentanyl from causing a person to stop breathing,” said SFD Medical Director Dr. Michael Sayre. 

“Research has found that administering this medication, after a non-fatal overdose, reduces the risk of another overdose by 50%,” said Harrell. 

The fire chief says the medicine also stabilizes people so they can make healthier choices. In the past three weeks since the program launched around Feb. 20, he says that nine people have said ‘yes’ to treatment. 

The mayor says that giving out the medicine in a pre-hospital setting will also reduce the strain on emergency rooms.

“It’s killing people on our streets every single day in our neighborhoods, and it demands that we have tools, cutting edge tools at our disposal to save lives,” said Mayor Harrell. 

Currently, around 10 Seattle Fire Department paramedics have received training to give the medication to patients.

More headlines on Washington’s opioid epidemic

SEATTLE – A Seattle man who committed a series of mail vehicle and mail key thefts was sentenced to over three years in prison for his various crimes.

Johny Mixayboua was sentenced to 41 months in prison for theft of government property, mail theft, illegal transactions on access devices, and illegally possessing a firearm.

The U.S. Attorney’s Office says Mixayboua stole postal vehicles, postal keys, and mail, causing the postal service to halt deliveries in the zip code 98118 for about a week.

According to court records, a U.S. Postal Service vehicle was stolen in the Rainier View neighborhood on December 28, 2022. The vehicle had a postal key used to access cluster mailbox units in the area, and there were multiple reports of mail being opened and stolen after the theft.

Neighbors also reported their credit cards being stolen and attempts being made to use them.

Through surveillance footage of the cluster mailboxes and from stores where Mixayboua tried to use the credit cards, police were able to identify him as the suspect.

On January 17, 2023, two more Postal Service vehicles were stolen around the Alki neighborhood. Again, Mixayboua stole mail and tried using the credit cards of neighbors.

A fourth postal service vehicle was stolen on January 30, 2023, this time in the South Seattle neighborhood. Mixayboua was once again identified as a suspect in the theft.

The thefts continued in late January and February in the Snoqualmie area, and throughout April, mail thefts continued from as far north as Lake Forest Park and as far south as southeast Seattle.

Mixayboua was living in a vehicle near a relative’s home, and he was arrested after running from officers.

Law enforcement also found a Polymer unregistered firearm, known as a “ghost gun,” that Mixayboua threw in the bushes while running from police.

At the sentencing hearing, U.S. District Court Judge Richard A. Jones said, “You had opportunities to look at your past and look at your future. You have failed to take advantage of the opportunities provided along the way to change your future. As you grow and mature, you will see all the years wasted engaged in criminal activity.”

“Mr. Mixayboua’s thefts caused widespread hardship – especially for the elderly and disabled who were suddenly forced to line up at the post office to get their mail,” said U.S. Attorney Tessa Gorman. “The theft of checks and credit cards caused harm to those hit with fraudulent charges. But even those who did not suffer theft were impacted. Individuals who relied on the mail for medication, medical supplies, food, and financial documents, were asked to physically come into the post office to pick up their mail because they had to shut down service due to the defendant’s actions.”