DELAWARE COUNTY, Pa. (KYW Newsradio) — Phil Waibel says when he graduated from college, he left with a degree … and a drug addiction.
“I lost the girl, I lost my job and I was evicted from my apartment,” Waibel recalled. He says that’s when he really hit rock bottom.
“I made a conscious choice to go out,” he said. “I overdosed, and the next thing I remember is waking up with EMTs hanging over my head.”
Now, officials in Delaware County have a new program to help Waibel and people like him by fighting the opioid epidemic head on — using money won in court from the pharmaceutical industry.
In 2022, the county was awarded $62.5 million dollars in funds from a $26 billion global settlement with pharmaceutical distributors Cardinal, McKesson, and AmerisourceBergen. The county will receive those funds in a structured settlement, across annual payments for 18 years, each averaging about $3.5 million.
Delaware County Health Department Director Melissa Lyon says officials have been hard at work looking at the best ways to use the money.
“To ensure the funds are used effectively, we formed a task force to provide recommendations for short term uses and immediate uses, as well as long term programming supported by the new funding,” Lyon told KYW Newsradio.
Their latest route is through a program called Delco Revive, which she says has an estimated cost of $80,000 a year. Lyon says Revive offers a plethora of free resources to county residents.
“The program focuses on education and the distribution of critical resources in the event of a life-threatening emergency,” she said.
Those resources include free harm-reduction techniques, including distribution of Narcan, xylazine and fentanyl test strips, and wound-care kits.
“Narcan was — and I say this very sincerely — the catalyst that tipped the scales in the favor of life over death for me in my experience,” Waibel said.
Revive also offers training in CPR, wound care and Narcan use, resources to save lives and help people get back on their feet — like Waibel, who recently graduated with his Master’s degree.
CORRECTION: In a previous version of this article, Phil's Waibel name was misspelled. The article has been edited to reflect this correction.