OAK Roots
In June of 2020, Jessica Geschke created the Overdose Aid Kit while working at Serve You Rx in Milwaukee, WI. She created this tool to expand naloxone access in her community after a personal experience with the loss of loved ones, clients and friends. Serve You Rx funded a one-year pilot program here in Wisconsin where she executed the initiative and installed 23 boxes in areas identified as “hot zones” due to repeated incidences of an overdose occurring in or near those locations. These locations included gas stations, hotels, police departments, recovery community organizations, and treatment centers providing alcohol and other drug abuse treatment. At the end of the pilot program, the boxes had been installed in five counties in Wisconsin. Serve You Rx saw a need for the program to continue after the pilot year and had a desire to expand its opioid risk management assistance to provide employers with more in-depth education, training and resources to support workplace safety, recovery-friendly cultures and save lives. In 2021, the OAK program expanded to a national level with Mobilize Recovery and joined the National Bus Tour across America. During that tour, 200 OAK boxes were placed across the country from California to New York. In August of 2024, the OAK program transitioned from Serve You Rx to the Clinton Foundation to have even a great reach on a national level.