A mobile classroom that brings education about the dangers of opioid drugs, along with doses of Narcan to help those who overdose, is hitting the streets of Jacksonville in a refurbished JTA bus.

JTA touts the outreach mobile, called Safety on the Move, as the first of its kind in the nation. Jacksonville’s transportation authority rolled out the refurbished bus Thursday alongside partners including Drug Free Duval.

This bus is expected to target communities with the largest opioid overdose issues, with experts on board to teach about the warning signs, then give people Narcan to save lives.

Drug Free Duval founder Susan Pittman calls it “a game changer.”

“We want to break the stigma,” said Pittman. “We want people to understand there are safe ways to use medication. There’s risks around opioids, (and that) doesn’t mean they should all go away. But it means we should understand that risk, and be able to mitigate that risk, and having Narcan on hand is one way.”

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The Safety on the Move bus is expected to make at least two mobile classroom stops each month, JTA CEO Nat Ford said.

In 2023, the Jacksonville Fire and Rescue Department responded to about 240 opioid-related overdose calls each month, with that number improving this year to about 177 opioid-related overdose calls each month, records show, amid a nationwide drop in opioid overdoses.

More than 3,339 Duval County residents died of an unintentional overdose death from 2016 to 2023, according to city records. Before that, from 2018 to 2022, the rate of opioid overdose deaths had increased by 67%. 

The new bus builds on an opioid overdose-prevention partnership JTA formed with Drug Free Duval in 2022, under which Drug Free Duval trained JTA security guards and some managers to recognize an opioid overdose and administer Narcan.

Ford said a security officer recently saved a person suffering an overdose on a JTA bus. The officer laid the passenger down, started CPR, and administered Narcan before he was hospitalized, Ford said.

“Thankfully, due to the training we provide to our security guards, and the efforts of the bus operator, I am happy to say that passenger was able to survive,” Ford said.

The Jacksonville Community Coalition Alliance is providing the Narcan for the new outreach bus. The DEA High-Intensity Drug Trafficking Area Task Force and others researched where mobile education would help the most.

The bus will be open from 10 a.m. to 2 p.m. on each visit, with all visitors receiving free Narcan after listening to the education program. The average over-the-counter cost per dose is $50, Pittman said.

“We just got hot data about a spike in overdoses right near Beach and Atlantic boulevards,” Pittman said of their first stop, not scheduled yet. “So we will put the bus in that general location … and we will advertise it like crazy. Anybody can come.”

The new partnership also includes the federal Centers for Disease Control and Prevention.