SPONSORED SPECIAL SECTION CP DAAC
Vehicle for change Through free safety products and mobile emergency units, Center Point DAAC is bringing life-saving opioid treatment to those in crisis By Rosie Padilla C hris Geiger was driving to work at Center Point DAAC’s addiction- treatment headquarters in Santa Rosa when an ambulance zoomed past and turned down the street
toward the recovery center. Suspecting a client may be in crisis, Geiger arrived to find EMTs already at the scene in a parking lot across from the center treating a man for a fentanyl-induced emergency. According to DAAC employees, the man and a friend had been nearby taking opioids when the friend suffered a potentially fatal overdose. Knowing DAAC provides free life-saving Narcan, the man sprinted across the lot to the recovery center, which administered the medication known to reverse the effects of a fentanyl overdose. Geiger, the interim regional vice president at Center Point DAAC, was relieved—foremost for their saving the man’s life, but also to know that DAAC’s reputation as a space for life- saving drug treatment came through in such a critical moment, a kind of crisis seen all-too frequently in recent years in the North Bay. According to county data released in August, an average of 12 people die of drug overdose each month in Sonoma County. Statewide, there were 486 drug overdose deaths in June alone—with 231 of those being a direct result of fentanyl, according to the California Department of Public Health.
The MAT mobile van has been in operation since spring 2025.
Counties are responsible for notifying local recovery centers, as well as the general public, when they identify notable drug-related warning statistics. And in the first two weeks of June this year there were twice the number of overdoses than are normally reported. According to Geiger, this stat might indicate the presence of fentanyl on the streets with a higher-than-typical potency, or it is being mixed with other drugs unbeknownst to the user. County data shows that although overdose death rates for men and women fell to 22.4 per 100,000 residents between 2022 and 2024, the numbers remain higher than before the pandemic and nearly match averages across the state, which has seen an overall increase in fentanyl deaths of 900% since 2018. The report highlights the Russian River area as the local region hardest hit by opioid overdoses, and notes that people experiencing homelessness represent roughly 10% of all OD deaths, despite making up only about 1% of the county’s population. Geiger, who struggled through addiction and recovery prior to his career working on behalf of treatment centers, says the Monte Rio area has long been a hotbed of illicit drug use. Even
during his period of addiction years ago, he recalls hanging out at a spot known locally as “Heroin Hill.” In August, the Sonoma County Board of Supervisors approved $5 million in opioid settlement funds for substance use disorder projects, awarding 10% to DAAC to expand its Wellness on Wheels (WOW) program—a mobile unit for bringing life-saving treatment to those without means of transportation to DAAC’s Santa Rosa treatment center. This van delivers health and safety products to rural areas of the community including food, water, hygiene products and STD prevention items. Beyond the WOW vehicle, Center Point DAAC also has a mobile care clinic, which provides medication-assisted treatment (MAT), a withdrawal management regimen. Helmed by Alisha Pepper, a psychiatric nurse practicioner, and Dr. Marie Mulligan, an addiction-certified physician, this mobile unit will soon provide items such as safe needles and Narcan. Introduced in March, the MAT mobile unit will expand access to potentially life-saving treatment to individuals across Sonoma County no matter their location or circumstances— particularly important in treating opioid emergencies, which are often concentrated in
Chris Geiger, interim regional vice president at Center Point DAAC
November 2025
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