WHATCOM COUNTY, WA (MyBellinghamNow.com) – Whatcom County is accelerating its response to the fentanyl crisis.

County Executive Satpal Sidhu signed an executive order Wednesday directing county departments to take over three dozen actions to address the crisis.

The announcement follows a resolution passed by the county council Tuesday night that recognized the fentanyl crisis as an emergency in Whatcom County. Lummi Indian Business Councilmember Nick Lewis spoke at the meeting, saying Whatcom is the first county to take this stance in such a way.

“How you have done this has now become a template for so many other places,” Lewis said. “Seattle is following your suits in the very near future. Portland is revisiting their stance to follow what Whatcom County has done.”

The order addresses the crisis in five key areas: prevention, intervention, treatment, recovery and multiagency coordination. It includes directives to install a naloxone vending machine in the county, initiate an overdose prevention educational campaign and increase litter clean-up in public spaces.

The order also includes the expansion and acceleration of programs that are already in place, in addition to new services. Among those is a temporary facility that will be opened to support intervention services for overdose patients until a 23-hour crisis care center is built.

Sidhu said in a statement that the county needs to intensify its response to correspond to the magnitude of the crisis, which he hopes is what his order will do.

He added that the county needs more resources from the state and federal government to sufficiently address the crisis.