SOLEDAD — City of Soledad and the Monterey County Health Department hosted a ribbon-cutting ceremony on Jan. 23 for the city’s first 24/7 naloxone and fentanyl test strip kiosk, after the event was rescheduled from Dec. 8.
The kiosk, located next to the Soledad Fire Station at 525 Monterey St., provides free access to approximately 250 doses of naloxone — also known by the brand name Narcan — and 250 sets of fentanyl test strips. Step-by-step instructions are included in both English and Spanish.
“This expansion reflects our unwavering commitment to saving lives by making overdose prevention tools as easy to access as a bottle of water,” said Elsa Jimenez, director of Health Services for the Monterey County Health Department. “By placing Narcan vending machines in transit hubs, colleges, recreation centers, jails and public safety facilities, we are meeting people where they are and empowering families, students and community members to act in an emergency.”
Soledad Mayor Anna Velazquez said the kiosk is an important step for the city.
“Fentanyl has taken far too many young lives, including those in our own community. By partnering with the Monterey County Health Department, we are providing a Narcan kiosk that has the power to save a life. This kiosk represents access, hope and action because every second matters when someone is in crisis,” she said.
The Soledad kiosk is part of a countywide expansion that doubled the number of free overdose-prevention kiosks from four to eight. In addition to Soledad, the new kiosks are located at Monterey Peninsula College, 980 Fremont St. in Monterey; the North County Recreation and Park District at 11261 Crane St. in Castroville; and Monterey County Jail #2 at 1414 Natividad Road in Salinas.
These join existing kiosks at the New Behavioral Health Access Outpatient Clinic, 30 Pearl St. in Salinas; the MST Salinas Transit Center, 110 Salinas St.; the MST Marina Transit Station, 280 Reservation Road in Marina; and Monterey County Jail #1, 1410 Natividad Road in Salinas.
Naloxone is a safe and effective medication that can reverse an opioid overdose within minutes. According to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, more than 100,000 people die from drug overdoses annually in the United States, with opioids involved in nearly 75% of those deaths.
The County of Monterey’s initiative is part of a broader public health strategy funded by opioid settlement funds to reduce the impact of opioid use, create pathways to treatment and provide youth-focused prevention and education campaigns through partnerships with organizations, such as Decoded.
