Listen to this articleThe basics:
- Cooper expands Bupe FIRST EMS program to Newark, Paterson
- EMS teams administer buprenorphine in the field after overdoses
- Program aims to reduce withdrawal symptoms, prevent repeat overdoses
Cooper University Health Care expanded its first-in-the-nation program to help patients who have suffered an opioid-related overdose.
The Bupe FIRST (Field Initiation of ReScue Treatment by EMS) initiative equips EMS teams with buprenorphine, commonly used as a medication for opioid use disorder. It also trains them to administer it when appropriate, “essentially starting long term addiction care in the field,” Cooper Health explained.
Dr. Gerard Carroll, medical director of Cooper EMS, and his team worked with Cooper’s Center for Healing to create the program in 2019. According to Cooper, buprenorphine is a partial opioid agonist that, when administered properly, can provide relief for withdrawal symptoms and opioid cravings and significantly reduce the risk for another overdose.
Now, the Camden-based health system has expanded the program to University Hospital in Newark and St. Joseph’s Health in Paterson, according to a recent announcement.
“That first interaction between a person who is suffering an overdose and EMS is a potent moment for intervention. It’s often the first interaction with health care the patient has had in some time, and, through Bupe FIRST, the responding EMS team hasa needed tool to treat a patient’s underlying addiction, not only the overdose,” Carroll said.
“The expansion of Bupe FIRST to University Hospital and St. Joseph’s Health will translate to lives saved and improved outcomes for those affected by opioid use disorder in New Jersey,” Carroll added.
Leading by example
Dr. Rachel Haroz, head of Cooper’s Center for Healing, called the program expansion “a great win in the battle against deaths from opioid overdoses.”
A look at the research
“Overdose patients who interacted with an EMS team equipped with buprenorphine report fewer withdrawal symptoms and are five times as likely to have engaged in addiction treatment in the following 30 days than those who did not.”
– SOURCE: Cooper Health researchers in a study published in Annals of Emergency Medicine
“The evidence is clear. Bupe FIRST saves lives and brings people who are most at risk of death from opioid use disorder into care. I hope to see similar programs in every EMS program in the country.”
In April, CNN’s “The Whole Story with Anderson Cooper” featured the program. The episode explored the nation’s opioid epidemic and how health care professionals are responding. Cooper also said Bupe FIRST has become the model for similar programs in California, Delaware, Minnesota, Missouri, Washington and Canada.
On the scene
Bupe FIRST is one of several initiatives Cooper Health’s emergency teams have implemented in the past few years to improve patient outcomes.
In July 2024, Cooper Medical School of Rowan University received a $3.5 million state grant to expand opiate-use disorder treatment programs. Along with Cooper’s EMS, the funds aimed to increase the number of paramedic systems in New Jersey offering buprenorphine therapy for overdose patients.
In January 2024, Cooper paramedics also joined a national study that compared the effects of two intravenous pain medications for severely injured trauma patients: fentanyl and low-dose ketamine.
