King County Executive Shannon Braddock joined the City of Seattle and Downtown Emergency Service Center (DESC) this week to celebrate the opening of the new Opioid Recovery and Care Access (ORCA) Center and shared a tour of the new facility on Instagram.   

The ORCA Center offers people a welcoming place to recover after an overdose and start treatment. It’s an important resource in King County’s work to address local impacts of the opioid crisis.   

“Thanks to collaboration across all levels of government to confront the opioid overdose crisis, we now have more resources and capacity to prevent overdoses, respond in real time, provide treatment, and support long-term recovery,” Executive Braddock said. “The new ORCA Center demonstrates our commitment — and action — to ensuring people can access the behavioral health care they need, when they need it.”

Fentanyl has dramatically increased the risk of overdose. According to Public Health Seattle & King County’s Overdose data dashboard, emergency medical services have responded to nearly 30,000 overdoses since 2020—many in downtown Seattle. After an overdose, however, most people don’t get the care they need. The ORCA Center will change that.  

People who overdose in King County will be stabilized, receive care, start on buprenorphine or methadone as medically appropriate, connect to resources to continue their recovery, and eat, sleep and shower in safety for their brief stay.  

Opioid use disorder medications like buprenorphine and methadone are lifesaving, and King County has been expanding access to make them easier to get.

The ORCA Center will offer immediate access to care, including 24/7 post-overdose stabilization for up to eight people, and opioid use disorder walk-in services every day, 9 a.m. to 11 p.m. 

At ORCA, people can: 

  • Start medications for opioid use disorder (MOUD) like oral or injectable buprenorphine or methadone.  
  • Access showers, snacks, and laundry during treatment.  
  • Meet with medical staff and peer support specialists.  
  • Learn about ways to mitigate the risks of substance use.  
  • Connect to longer-term behavioral health support, shelter, and housing navigation.  

King County provided capital funding for building renovations to open ORCA, and they will be a contractor under the Behavioral Health and Recovery Division’s King County Integrated Care Network (KCICN). King County’s investment in ORCA was one of our 13 Actions to Stop the Surge of Overdose Deaths first announced in March 2024, a cross-governmental coordinated response to the opioid overdose crisis. 

Listen to KUOW’s Seattle Now podcast to learn more about how this new center came to be and the services it provides or check out Cascade PBS’ coverage of the opening.

We now have more places for people to go for treatment in King County. The ORCA Center, King County’s first Crisis Care Center, a new residential treatment facility, and the STAR Center all opened in the past 12 months, and a larger sobering center will open soon.