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The Success of S.F’s Mobile Opioid Treatment Clinics

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Two women with light-coilored skin and wearing face masks stand in front of a trailer, with their arms around each other.
Tamra Lombardo (right), a patient, and registered nurse Hasija Sisic embrace in front of the Opiate Treatment Outpatient Program mobile methadone clinic in a parking lot outside San Francisco General Hospital on Feb. 10, 2023. (Beth LaBerge/KQED)

San Francisco’s mobile opioid treatment clinics were set up as a way to address overcrowding at San Francisco General Hospital during the beginning of the COVID-19 pandemic. These vans distribute methadone, a medication used to reduce withdrawal symptoms — while offering program patients snacks, water and canisters of naloxone, an overdose-reversal nasal spray.

In San Francisco alone, nearly 2,000 people have died of drug overdoses since 2020. And surprisingly, these temporary mobile clinics are drawing more patients than SF General’s indoor treatment clinics. Now, the people who run it want to find a way to keep them around.

Episode transcript

Guest: Sydney Johnson, KQED reporter


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