New York City opened two free public health vending machines in Port Richmond, Staten Island, stocked with naloxone and free harm reduction supplies 24/7.
New York City has opened two free public health vending machines in Staten Island’s Port Richmond neighborhood, stocking them around the clock with naloxone, fentanyl test strips, hygiene kits, and condoms. They are the first city-supported machines of their kind in the borough, according to a city press release.
Mayor Zohran Kwame Mamdani, the New York City Health Department, and the Staten Island Partnership for Community Wellness opened the machines outside two Port Richmond organizations: Community Health Action of Staten Island and A Chance in Life. No ID, insurance, or appointment is required. Anyone can access the free supplies by entering a New York City ZIP code at the machine. The machines operate 24 hours a day, seven days a week.
The program is funded through $12 million in opioid settlement dollars that the city allocated in 2023, per the press release.
Staten Island had the city’s second-highest overdose death rate in 2023, according to the same press release. Overdose deaths among Staten Island residents then fell 49 percent between 2023 and 2024, dropping the borough from having the second-highest rate to the second-lowest. City officials framed the new machines as part of a sustained effort to keep harm reduction resources available without barriers, even as that number has improved.
Independent since 2009
Become a member.
Independent North Brooklyn news, read across all of New York. Keep it going.
The tote
The newsletter
Your name on the supporters page
Staten Island is not the first borough to get these machines. The city launched its first four Health Department-supported public health vending machines in Brooklyn and Queens in 2023. Since then, those machines have been used more than 73,000 times and dispensed more than 6,600 naloxone kits, the press release said.
The City Reporter flagged the Staten Island launch in a newsletter published Tuesday, July 1.
Featured image: Bushwick Daily archive
AdvertisementsFrom Bushwick Daily
Reach Bushwick
Put your business in front of 100,000+ New Yorkers a month.