Registered Nurse (RN) - ORCA Center, Day Shift

Description

Schedule:

• Before ORCA Center Opens (anticipated in summer-fall 2025): Monday – Friday, 9:00 am – 5:00 pm; clinical care on DESC’s Opioid Treatment Network team.
• After ORCA Center Opens: Planned schedule is three (3) 12-hour shifts with at least two 30-minute breaks, 7:00 am – 7:30 pm, per week, with some weekends required; and one additional 12-hour shift every 4 weeks. Please note that ORCA is a new program, and the schedule is subject to adjustment as necessary to meet operational and clinical needs.

Supervised by: ORCA RN Supervisor 

Insurance Benefits: Medical (no premiums/payroll deductions for employee coverage), Dental, Life, Long-term Disability

Other Benefits: Employee Assistance Program (EAP), Flexible Spending Account (FSA), ORCA card subsidy, Paid Time Off (34 days per year), Retirement Plan

Union Representation: This position is a part of a union and is represented by SEIU Healthcare 1199NW.

A cover letter is required as part of your application to be considered for this role.

About DESC:

DESC (Downtown Emergency Service Center) is a nonprofit organization working to help people with the complex needs of homelessness, substance use disorders, and serious mental illness achieve their highest potential for health and well-being through comprehensive services, treatment, and housing. Our vision is a community where no person is abandoned, ignored, or experiencing homelessness.

As the region's leading provider of services to adults who have experienced chronic homelessness, DESC serves almost 3,000 people each day. Our integrated service model is designed to help people secure and maintain appropriate, safe and affordable housing. DESC is recognized nationally and regionally as an innovator in developing solutions to homelessness.

Come work for us!  

The Downtown Emergency Service Center (DESC) is now recruiting Registered Nurses (RNs) for one of DESC’s newest clinical programs, the Opioid Recovery and Care Access (ORCA) Center. The ORCA Center is estimated to start clinical services in mid-2025 (though the RNs will start once hired) and will be open 24 hours per day, 7 days per week, including holidays. It will offer four overlapping types of services:

• Care to individuals in stable condition who have experienced an opioid overdose, brought to the ORCA Center by first responders or transferred from local emergency departments.
• Rapid initiation of medications for opioid use disorder (MOUD), including buprenorphine (sublingual and long-acting injectable) and methadone (under the “72-hour rule”, or Code of Federal regulations Title 21 §1306.07 (b)), for people with OUD, regardless of whether an opioid overdose has recently occurred.
• Harm reduction counseling and OUD-related physical and behavioral health services, such as hepatitis C testing and treatment and HIV pre-exposure prophylaxis.
• Follow-up care, at the ORCA Center or at times field-based, with individuals who have started MOUD to ensure support in MOUD continuation.

DESC, together with planning partners at the UW Addictions, Drug and Alcohol Institute (ADAI), Seattle Fire Department, King County Behavioral Health and Recovery Division (BHRD) & Public Health, and Evergreen Treatment Services, have been engaged in planning for the ORCA Center. Funding for the ORCA Center has come from the City of Seattle, King County, the state of Washington, and a generous private donor.

The Registered Nurse (RN) acts as a member of a multi-disciplinary team responsible for providing nursing services to adults who have experienced an opioid overdose and/or those with a diagnosis of Opioid Use Disorder. DESC’s ORCA Center provides 24-hour, low-barrier, enhanced supportive services. Here, the RN will provide in-the-moment, low-threshold medical access to clients who may not otherwise present to more traditional clinics. Work is done under the supervision of the ORCA Nurse Supervisor, Senior Nurse Manager, Director of Nursing, and Medical Director. 

MAJOR DUTIES AND RESPONSIBILITIES:

• Provide clinical assessments, RN case management, medical monitoring, wound care and other treatments, intervention in medical emergencies, and linkages to behavioral health treatment and primary care.
• Provide individualized medication management services and education as needed, and ongoing assessment of mental status and the impacts of current treatment.
• Perform initial history and physical of client; documenting any client identified concerns, vital signs, and mental health status exams/AIMs assessments.
• Reconcile medic