For the first time in Needham’s history, anonymous anti-opioid overdose kits are available to community members.
“We want to keep people alive so that they can access all the other resources that are available,” said peer recovery coach Angi MacDonnell.
MacDonnell spearheaded the installation of Narcan Nasal Spray kits around town this summer on behalf of the Needham Public Health Division. In July and August, 123 kits were accessed from Needham’s supply.
The kits rely on the fast-acting medicine naloxone to turn an opioid overdose around. Each kit comes with gloves, a breathing mask and instructions. MacDonnell added that naloxone is safer than most people believe and can be used even if an individual has no opioids in their body. “It doesn’t hurt anybody if they’re not having an overdose,” she said. “I think that’s probably the biggest misconception.”
The effort to make overdose kits more easily accessible was grounded in feedback from residents with lived experiences of substance use, MacDonnell said. Their input on the town’s Public Health Strategic Plan spotlighted the importance of anonymous access to Narcan kits.
Prior to this summer, those in need of the medicine had to ask for a kit in-person. “And although nobody’s writing your name down, it’s an extra step,” MacDonnell said. She added that parents are often given prescriptions for their children that are never filled.
“It represents something really stressful and sad and scary and overwhelming, so I completely understand why a parent would not want to go to CVS and stand and wait in line and do that. So we’re just trying to make it a little bit easier for people.”
Kits can now be found in bathrooms at the Rosemary Recreation Complex and pool, in the library and in businesses around town. MacDonnell replaces the boxes on a weekly basis.
“We’ve received really good feedback about having it there,” she said. “I even put it in our conference room in the Public Health department, to kind of just show people if they’re looking for ways to make it available in their office.”
Community members with a Needham address can also place a mail order through the Public Health website.
“We have a signup sheet on the Public Health website, and it says you can sign up or request to come into the office and pick up Narcan and get trained,” said MacDonnell. “So we made a second option on there, that you can request to have us mail you up to three boxes.”
Soon, she hopes, kits will also be zip-tied to light posts in Needham’s three MBTA parking lots. This idea was inspired by a study of overdoses in Boston that found many of the individuals overdosing in the city originated from the suburbs. Needham’s Public Health Division submitted its application to the MBTA and hopes to hear back sometime in October.
“Coming to the public health department, you can always find somebody who can answer questions, but we also want to factor in that there are people who don’t want to have a conversation,” MacDonnell said. “It represents a hard emotional thing for them — maybe they’re picking it up because they have a family member that they’re worried about.”
MacDonnell noted naloxone depends on the availability of another person to administer it when an overdose occurs. She added it’s more likely people will help someone they know than a stranger. “I would encourage people to think a little bit more broadly about who they’re surrounded by and who is in their world.”
“If you know someone who has a family member who’s gone to a treatment center, don’t even ask the question; just get a box, put it in a bag, tell them what you’re handing them, and tell them they don’t even have to have a conversation with you about it, just hang onto it.”
Those who do administer naloxone to someone else should also call 911, MacDonnell said. Massachusetts’ Good Samaritan law protects both the person experiencing an overdose and the person who calls 911 from arrest, charges or prosecution related to the possession and use of controlled substances.
Individuals using drugs alone can call the SafeSpot hotline anonymously. A SafeSpot operator will stay on the phone and contact 911 if the caller becomes unresponsive.
“As illegal substances have evolved, people can have really, really bad accidents,” said MacDonnell. “A one-time choice can really harm you.”
Data from the state’s Bureau of Substance Addiction Services shows that, in 2025, just over 1,000 deaths, 8,000 ER visits and close to 14,000 EMS incidents in Massachusetts were tied to opioids.
Needham’s reaction to increased anti-opioid overdose efforts has been positive, MacDonnell said. Of the 25 businesses approached this summer, all 25 took a kit. MacDonnell added that she has seen the community’s response shift over time.
“I started in 2020, and we would take Narcan to tabling events at Harvest Fair and things like that, and the majority of people would see it, look at it and say, ‘That’s not for me,’ and move along. But over time, people are starting to recognize that, ‘It can’t hurt for me to have this.’”
“We see a lot of parents coming up and saying, ‘Oh, I have a college kid, I should take some and give it to them,’’’ she said. “Which, years ago, nobody was saying that.”
Funding for the kits comes from opioid settlement funds that can only be used for opioid-related efforts. These funds are given to communities based on the size of their school systems.
The money has also been used to establish a recovery coaching program, recovery community support fund, a therapy art program that will begin in October, a group for postpartum moms that will kick off soon in collaboration with Youth & Family Services, and weekly anonymous dual recovery meetings for individuals with mental health or substance use challenges.
“We happen to have a very robust youth prevention program in Needham, so we’ve kind of shifted and focused a little more on adult prevention,” MacDonnell said. She noted the Public Health Division will host more listening sessions to continue asking community members how opioid settlement funds should be used.
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