Giving Compass' Take:

• Pacific Standard interviews Newark Assistant Fire Chief David Decker on his first hand experience dealing with the addiction crisis in America. 

• Decker credits poverty as being part of the problem to the addiction crisis, how can we call attention to these areas? How is the overdose crisis unveiling larger problems in our society?

• Here's an article on the effects of the opioid crisis and those who suffer from addiction. 

It's 8:30 p.m. in November and Newark Assistant Fire Chief David Decker sits at his desk, doing paperwork. Suddenly, a red light flashes in the hallway; a voice comes over the intercom indicating an EMT emergency run. A possible drug overdose. Within seconds, Decker is in his department-issued SUV, racing through downtown Newark, Ohio, passing the county courthouse, lights flashing and siren wailing as he careens over the train tracks and down Main Street.

He's the first to arrive at the house. When he enters, he finds a woman lying motionless on the floor, anxious kids circled around her. Spotting the woman's partner in the house, Decker shouts to him: "Can you get these kids upstairs? They don't need to see this."

Decker deftly administers Narcan, an overdose-reversing medicine, and soon the woman comes to. An EMT transports her to the nearby hospital.

Read the full article about first responders on the addiction crisis by Jack Shuler at Pacific Standard