Something astonishing is happening in Worcester.
The city cut its overdose deaths in half in 2024. And with just 13 recorded overdose deaths through April, New England’s second largest city is on track for even fewer deaths this year.
The drop in mortality is welcome news for a city and surrounding region that recently had the highest rate of fatal overdoses in the state.
There’s something similar happening across the U.S., where estimated fatal overdoses declined by 27% last year. In some places, deaths have dropped back to where they were before the pandemic, a time when fatal overdoses spiked. But with a 55% drop in 2024, Worcester’s reversal is more dramatic.
Doctors, nurses, city leaders and outreach workers say they’ve changed how they approach the problem, which they believe has led to fewer deaths. The hope is that this combination of efforts could become a map for sustained relief from the drug overdose crisis.
But with that hope comes fresh concern: Virtually all of the interventions experts credit with the decline in deaths rely to some degree on federal funding that is now at risk.
The methadone van
It only takes Trina a few minutes to walk from her room at the YMCA to a mobile methadone clinic parked behind Saint John’s Catholic Church. The line at this converted mobile home usually moves quickly. Trina, a 60-year-old former nurse, loves the convenience.
“From where I live I can throw a rock almost and hit it,” she said.
Without the van, Trina would have to take two buses to get to a clinic that offers methadone, a prescription drug that helps her fend off cravings for fentanyl.
“It’s a big rigamarole and sometimes I don’t make it,” Trina said. WBUR agreed not to use Trina’s full name because she still occasionally buys illegal drugs.
For the last two years, the mobile clinic has made daily stops at three different locations and delivered doses to more than 1,500 patients according to Spectrum Health Systems, the company that operates the van.
“It’s definitely more successful than opening up a [stationary] program,” said Heidi DiRoberto, who oversees the van for Spectrum. “And it’s really the right thing to do.”
Research shows methadone reduces the chances of a fatal overdose among people addicted to opioids by more than 50%. Dr. Jeff Baxter, Spectrum’s chief medical officer, said he’s certain that making methadone more available in Worcester is helping save lives.
“When people take methadone, they’re not feeling sick, they’re not in withdrawal,” Baxter said. “No treatment that we do in medicine really, apart from maybe a surgery, is as effective as methadone is, so we should respect it.”
