North Baton Rouge Launches Life-Saving Initiative to Combat Overdoses

By Avery White
Louisiana State University

A series of pop-up events planned for North Baton Rouge this spring will provide residents with easy access to drug addiction counselors, recovery resources, and medication that can reverse a narcotics overdose.

The Spring Into Recovery initiative includes several informal neighborhood events that allow people to walk or drive up and learn how to help someone struggling with addiction or where to receive help themselves. They also can get free Narcan, a nasal spray that first responders often carry to counteract an opioid overdose and save lives.

In a press conference earlier this year, District Attorney Hillar Moore credited events like these, which provide widespread distribution of Narcan, for the steady fall in fatal overdoses in Baton Rouge since 2021. Moore said that such an outcome is one of the best in the country.

The exact dates of the pop-up events have not yet been announced, but Tonja Myles, who helped plan the spring initiative, said North Baton Rouge was targeted to combat an uptick in drug overdoses in the area.

 “We've seen the trends in North Baton Rouge. It’s been like a cancer,” Myles said. “For us, we know that some cancers spread fast. That’s why we want to move faster to save as many lives as we can and bring awareness."

This initiative is the most recent of the When You Are Ready Project, created by Myles and her husband, Darren, to address the drug overdose problem in the city. The couple has been working around North Baton Rouge and the Greater Baton Rouge Area for years in partnership with the city government.

Myles, who has been in recovery herself for over 30 years, began working 20 years ago to help others facing substance use disorders and addiction. Three years ago, When You Are Ready began collaborating with the Baton Rouge Police Department and the District Attorney’s Office.

Through the partnership, the couple began to pinpoint problem areas in the city and worked as boots-on-the-ground advocates, alongside the police during possible overdose calls. While on the calls, the team provides support to those suffering an overdose or resources for family members, if the overdose was fatal. 

“We're there to say, ‘Hey look, we’ve been where you are. We’re peer support specialists. Let us help you,’” Myles said.

When members of the project are not working with the police department, they use data and information from the District Attorney’s Office to go out into the most drug-impacted communities and campaign for recovery and awareness. They inform residents of the dangers of fentanyl and the resources available, such as support counseling or rehabilitation opportunities.

“We’re trying to let everyone know ain’t no one safe. Everything could possibly be laced with fentanyl,” Myles said. “It affects everyone. It does not discriminate from the curbside to the country club."

A keystone of the project is its dedication to getting help for those who are struggling.  If someone expresses a desire and readiness to get help while counselors are out in the community, the When You Are Ready team immediately aids the person in the process.

“We don’t wait. If they are ready now, they are ready now, not later, now,” Myles said. “We’re trying to give people the opportunity to live long enough to make the right choices so they won't end up dead.”

Once people are ready for help, the project makes sure they get help immediately, whether that means finding them a ride or following them to a crisis center, no matter the day or time.

The project team can do this because of the Bridge Center for Hope, the only Crisis Receiving Center in Louisiana. Located on Florida Street and open 24 hours seven days a week, the center works as an emergency room, specifically for mental health and substance use disorder crises.

“It allows first responders to be able to utilize our facilities like they were to go to the emergency room,” Executive Director Charlotte Claiborne said. “It was also designed to relieve some of the pressure from the emergency department for anything related to mental health.”

Instead of those in a mental health crisis having to go to the hospital or even possibly jail, they can go to the Bridge Center and get immediate attention geared toward the help they need. Anyone over 18 years old can go to the center at any time for help and services, regardless of if they have insurance. No patients who receive services will ever get a bill, Claiborne said.

“We don’t tell anyone no,” Claiborne said. “If we can’t treat you at our facility, we will figure it out. We’re not going to send you home and say we can’t do it.”

The need for these programs is so urgent, Myles said.