In the scrum of the Knicks ticker-tape parade in Lower Manhattan two weeks ago, an off-duty EMT volunteer spotted a stranger showing signs of a drug overdose.
Acting fast, Simone Kelly found someone in the crowd who happened to be carrying naloxone, an over-the-counter drug used to quickly reverse the effects of opioid overdoses, and administered the nasal spray. The man did not die.
New York City Health Commissioner Dr. Alister Martin relayed this anecdote in June in Staten Island as he and community health leaders announced the arrival of two vending machines that stock “public health” supplies like naloxone kits, also known by the brand name Narcan. Everything in the machine is free.
“Were it not for that individual, and were it not for that Narcan, this person may not be here with us today,” Martin said outside the A Chance in Life health nonprofit, in front of one of the new machines, per Healthbeat’s reporting. “The public health vending machines make it more likely that those kinds of life-saving scenarios will happen again in the future.”
The machines have been installed in Staten Island’s North Shore neighborhoods after Adrienne Abbate, executive director of Partnerships for Community Wellness, submitted a proposal to obtain funding from the city’s opioid settlement fund. The pool of money is providing $12 million to expand drug prevention, treatment, and recovery services, as well as harm reduction services, in Staten Island.
Trenton Daniel // HealthbeatBrooklyn and Queens had already had two machines each since 2023, and Abbate had seen a stark need for the machines in the North Shore area, where fatal overdoses had outnumbered other parts of the borough.
Mirroring nationwide trends, New York City began to see a spike in fatal drug overdoses around 2014 and then peaked in 2022. That year, the city recorded 3,070 fatal drug overdoses, a figure that has since dropped significantly, according to a city Health Department report in October 2025.
The decline was noticeable in Staten Island. After recording the city’s second-highest overdose death rate, the borough dropped to the second-lowest overdose death rate in 2024, according to the city’s Health Department.
Experts attributed the drop in death rates to a combination of factors, including wider availability of naloxone, expanded access to medication, and investment in harm reduction services.
The highest rates of fatal overdoses in the city persist in parts of the Bronx, Upper Manhattan, and Central Brooklyn, according to recent data from the city Health Department.
Today, first responders carry naloxone and so do local pharmacies — for around $25 — and almost all public institutions in New York state are required to carry naloxone on their premises, according to the Health Department. Every school in New York City stocks naloxone, and school nurses are trained to administer treatment.
But the cost and location can be barriers, especially during an emergency, and the new machines aim to make naloxone more readily available.
“No matter the time or day of the week, community members will have a chance to come grab free supplies and start carrying the tools to protect our neighbors — on the bus, walking on the street, or driving in the car,” Abbate said. “No insurance or appointment needed.”
In addition to naloxone, the machines provide emergency contraception pills, condoms, and socks. Users of machines are asked to enter a ZIP code, which is logged.
Abbate said the decisions about what to stock in the machines come from research that included conversations with people in recovery and others still using drugs.
This story was produced by Healthbeat and reviewed and distributed by Stacker.
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