Clearwater, Fla.-based BayCare Health System has installed a vending machine stocked with harm-reducing items at its BayCare Behavioral Health facility in Dade City, Fla., in partnership with the Florida Department of Health in Pasco County and the Alliance for Healthy Communities.
The vending machine is one of four machines located in Pasco County, according to a Feb. 4 news release. In other areas of the country where they are already in use, there are reports of a 15% reduction in overdose deaths, Sonya Bufe, BayCare manager of behavioral health services, said in the release.
The machines are stocked with harm-reduction tools such as Narcan, fentanyl and HIV testing strips as well as personal toiletry items. The vending machine located behind BayCare Behavioral Health in Dade City, is accessible to the public 24/7 and can be accessed anonymously, and items are free of charge.
In February 2025, BayCare opened the BayCare Behavioral Health Urgent Care Center in New Port Richey, Fla., the first behavioral health urgent care center in Florida. Estimated to serve 400 patients in the first year, the center has served more than 1,600 patients to date. Ninety-eight percent of patients received care without the need for hospitalization, according to the release.
BayCare operates 11 inpatient and 15 outpatient behavioral centers across five counties. A second urgent care location in Dade City is expected to open in April, and BayCare is opening Pasco County’s first central receiving facility by the end of the year.
