Madelaine MacQueen, who looks out for neighborhood residents at her job with the nonprofit University Settlement, spent more than 126 hours over the last year in front of convenience stores, a pet shop, and gas stations talking to people who use drugs.
A community prevention planning manager at the nonprofit, MacQueen said she was shocked to learn how bad the overdose problem is and how many people have nearly died from drugs. She said she was also surprised by the number of people who saved themselves or others using naloxone, an overdose reversal medication.
“I just was taken aback and admired by how many people end up taking care of each other and form a community of support that way,” MacQueen said.
MacQueen spoke Tuesday before dozens of public health officials, nonprofit leaders, and doctors to highlight the ongoing overdose problem and suggest strategies to combat it. University Settlement partnered with Cuyahoga County’s Alcohol, Drug Addiction and Mental Health Services Board (ADAMHS) to collect data and information about the neighborhood’s overdose problem. University Settlement released the data in a report on Tuesday.
Between 2014 and 2022, 300 people died of a drug overdose in Slavic Village, according to University Settlement’s analysis of figures collected by the Cuyahoga County Medical Examiner. MacQueen said emergency medical services were called more than 980 times to reverse overdoses in the neighborhood, according to EMS figures she reviewed.
“Twice as many people died from overdose deaths in the city than from gun violence deaths,” said Dr. Dave Margolius, Cleveland Public Health Director, who also spoke at the event. “There are solutions, interventions and other efforts to solve this crisis.”
MacQueen said a group of 70 people reviewed the overdose and neighborhood data and created a plan to provide safe spaces for people in recovery, more treatment options, outreach and prevention programs. The plan also includes increasing access to free overdose medication and testing kits that identify the presence of synthetic drugs such as fentanyl.
MacQueen said University Settlement will seek grants from the federal Substance Abuse and Mental Health Services Administration (SAMHSA) to help implement the strategies.
“We hope to normalize and provide a space for people to understand and deeply care about what is going on in the community,” MacQueen said. “It’s the only way for us collectively to solve and save so many people’s lives in our city.”
