HOLLYWOOD, Fla. — Can’t hurt, just might save a life.
That’s the idea behind the city of Hollywood’s partnership with the Robin Foundation, a nonprofit working with the city to install emergency overdose cabinets alongside defibrillators in 49 strategic locations.
Chances are most people have never heard of the Robin Foundation — and its founders are fine with that. They say they are not looking for fame, only a way to turn pain into purpose.
For 17 years, Robin Cavallo worked to help people fight addiction. She later died of an overdose after becoming addicted to pain medication following surgery. Her daughter, Stephanie, never fully recovered from her mother’s death and later died of fentanyl poisoning.
After their deaths, husband and father Chris Cavallo, along with daughter and twin sister Christina, founded the Robin Foundation.
They simply hoped to stop people from dying in Hollywood.
That hope now takes the form of simple boxes placed next to the city’s defibrillators at parks, community centers and other public spaces.
“The emergency equipment should all be centralized in a location,” Chris Cavallo said.
He approached the city in 2024 with the idea of placing overdose emergency cabinets next to fire rescue defibrillators, so no public space would be “equipped with one lifesaving tool but not the other.”
One of those cabinets is located inside the Armory Community Center at Dowdy Field.
“In each of these cabinets, there’s either a card that shows them how to use the Narcan, or we have a QR code that goes to a 62-second video,” Chris Cavallo said. “So if in fact someone was in the center and they overdosed, it’s a very high-pressure situation. You don’t know what to do. You scan this code and within 60 seconds you can administer the Narcan, which is nothing more than a nasal spray.”
According to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, Narcan reverses 93% to 98.3% of overdoses. Studies show nearly 19,000 additional lives could be saved if a bystander administered the drug.
Cavallo emphasized that people should not hesitate to call for help.
“Well, the most important thing that we tell anyone that we speak to, call 911, OK,” he said. “The Hollywood Police (Department), the Hollywood Fire Rescue — they’re your friends. They’re not there to arrest people. They’re there to help save lives.”
Hollywood Fire Rescue’s defibrillators — housed in white boxes around the city — also provide audio instructions.
Hollywood Fire Rescue’ EMS Division Chief Diana Deabreu said the city wants more defibrillators available to the public.
“There’s always room for more,” Deabreu said. “We would like it to be available to anybody at any time that they’re in one of our parks or out in the open in our city.”
If Hollywood adds more defibrillators, the Robin Foundation plans to add more emergency overdose cabinets. Chris Cavallo said his goal is to expand the program to other cities, possibly across Broward County.
Copyright 2026 by WPLG Local10.com - All rights reserved.
