The Chicago Department of Public Health on Wednesday unveiled a strategy to combat opioid overdoses this summer. [Health News Illinois]

Commissioner Dr. Olusimbo "Simbo" Ige told the City Council Committee on Health and Human Relations that efforts will focus on working with local organizations and providers to distribute overdose reversal medication and to connect those suffering from opioid use disorder with same-day access to medication treatment.

The agency will also offer education on overdose prevention and review data and maps of opioid-related overdoses based on responses by emergency medical services providers.

“We have tools to help prevent fatal overdoses,” Ige said. “With greater awareness and understanding of the increase in opioid overdose deaths, as well as ready access to overdose reversal and treatment medications, everybody can play a role."

The effort will focus on neighborhoods at the highest risk of opioid-related overdoses. Ige said that, for the past three years, one third of all EMS responses have occurred in five west side neighborhoods.

Ige said the effort is a step to address a spike in overdoses seen in recent summers and a life-expectancy gap between Black and non-Black Chicagoans, which was 11.4 years in 2022.

“CDPH and the city of Chicago are committed to narrowing this gap, and we’re working every day with our healthcare and community partners to do so,” she said.

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