Mt. Pleasant, Wakeup Carolina partnership sees decrease in overdoses

MOUNT PLEASANT, S.C. (WCSC) - The Mount Pleasant Police Department says that ever since it partnered with the nonprofit WakeUp Carolina, the number of reported cases of overdoses dropped.

Capt. Christopher Rosier says police reported 25 non-fatal overdoses last year, but by the end of 2023, since implementing WakeUp Carolina’s peer support services, that number dropped to 15.

“So, we saw a 40 percent reduction in non-fatal overdoses last year by taking the badging gun and law enforcement side out of it and adding in peer support,” Rosier says.

WakeUp Carolina conducted 241 follow-ups in 2023 and Rosier says that has been the key to reducing their overdose numbers.

This partnership started back in 2016, however, Rosier says in 2023 they revamped the program. This is when they started conducting on-scene peer support services and follow-ups.

When there is a reported overdose and officers have completed their duties on the scene, WakeUp Carolina is notified immediately through text, phone call, or email and their peer support services come there to conduct a follow-up.

Their peer support services include harm reduction, detox support, withdrawal management, and steps for recovery. They not only offer support to the victim but also for the victim’s friends and family members.

Police also use a platform called Critical Incident Management System to share information between law enforcement agencies across jurisdictional lines for overdoses. Mount Pleasant is one of the first police agencies to include a non-profit with this real-time information.

“Our goal is to try and reduce any overdoses that could be reoccurring, as well as any overdoses in general. One thing that is unique about our program is we focus not only on the individual in crisis, but the environment they are in, so we focus on family and friends. Anyone that could be at risk for another overdose,” Rosier says.

He says that since their officers aren’t always able to follow up on as many overdoses as WakeUp Carolina does, they fund their peer support services through their opioid settlement funds. He believes it is also beneficial for the individual in crisis to hear from someone else who is in recovery and walked through that person’s shoes.

The founder and executive director of WakeUp Carolina, Nanci Steadman Shipman, says that people reach out to them every day and that there is never a moment where they are sitting there wondering what they can do to help.

She says by providing support groups and a safe space for people to talk that they usually share more information than they thought they would. She believes that by being the person who can “walk alongside someone” is key.

She says the process that her organization takes when they are notified of an overdose.

“We identify who is the correct peer support. If it’s a male, then we want to put a male peer support with them. If it’s a female, we do a female peer support,” Shipman says. “Then we identify who is at the scene because anyone who is at the scene of a fatal or non-fatal overdose, their risks increase because of the trauma they experience by witnessing it.”

She emphasized that every person involved in the scene, whether it be fatal or non-fatal, is just as important and deserves resources.

WakeUp Carolina also educates and provides harm reduction resources such as NARCAN training, along with fentanyl and xylazine test strips. NARCAN is an over-the-counter nasal spray used to treat narcotic overdoses.

She says on scene they exchange contact information with the person, their family, or whoever is affected and let them know that they can always call. From there, she says they don’t stop and continue to do follow-ups.

“While there is breath, there is hope for another day, for support, for resources,” Shipman says.

Officers always carry NARCAN, and Shipman believes everyone should carry it as well. She has seen that most end up using it on people they don’t know in an emergency, and it can save a life.

WakeUp Carolina’s NARCAN is funded through MPPD’s Opioid Settlement Fund and money that Mount Pleasant Town Council has allocated for WakeUp Carolina. The South Carolina Department of Alcohol and Other Drug Abuse Services funds fentanyl and xylazine strips.

Shipman says they can provide for anyone in need.

She touched on how she lost her son to an overdose back in the summer of 2016 and said things might have been different if this partnership was available to him back then.

She says from the start that Mount Pleasant was the only police agency willing to sit down and listen to her about a partnership.

“Mount Pleasant has made it possible for any and everyone to receive support and resources, unconditionally. And an ear, a heart, and a hand,” Shipman says.

Rosier added that he thinks that other communities should take preventative measures and develop a partnership like Mount Pleasant Police has with WakeUp Carolina now, instead of waiting until the overdose numbers have increased.

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