West Allis Fire Department introduces new tool to help fight opioid epidemic

Jason Schaak has been in the fire service for two decades. In that time, he's seen the rise of the opioid epidemic. "It's a challenge. It's a challenge to be a provider and to continuously see this happen to a community and not have the tools or resources to combat it," Schaak said. As the Assistant Chief of Community Risk Reduction at the West Allis Fire Dept. He's been working on finding those tools. Now in addition to being able to administer Narcan, the department is able to administer buprenorphine. "This is something provided to people that are experiencing opioid withdrawals," Schaak explained.