The Montgomery County Health Department has received its third supply of overdose rescue kits from the Indiana State Department of Health as part of a community partnership program that began in September 2017.
The goal is to distribute these kits to the community in an effort to help prevent fatal opioid overdoses. The kits contain naloxone hydrochloride, a non-narcotic medication that reverses the life-threatening respiratory failure that is usually the cause of overdose deaths. Naloxone is also known by the trade name Narcan.
The health department will have a community-wide workshop at 6 p.m. Wednesday at the Crawfordsville District Public Library in Classroom D. The workshop will consist of a quick training by MCHD staff and local EMT’s that will cover how to properly administer the naloxone as well as information and resources on prevention and treatment/recovery. If you cannot attend the event, the naloxone rescue kits are available for free to the public 8 a.m. to 4:30 p.m. Monday through Friday at the Montgomery County Health Department.
The purpose of having the naloxone rescue kits are for preventive measures. The naloxone kits are available for family, friends and the general public who can be of assistance to someone who is overdosing from an opiate before EMT’s arrive to the scene.
Provisional ISDH data show that in 2016, 1,271 Hoosiers died of drug poisoning, while nearly 8,300 people visited Indiana emergency departments due to nonfatal opioid overdoses. In 2017, there were a total of 82 overdoses reported to the emergency room in Montgomery County alone. Of these overdoses in Montgomery County, there were 12 confirmed opioid related deaths, three times greater than in 2016.
The Montgomery County Health Department is a registered naloxone dispenser at www.optIN.in.gov, which lists entities that carry naloxone. Individuals in need of naloxone can request it from a registered entity using a statewide standing order signed by the previous State Health Commissioner Jerome Adams, M.D., M.P.H. Individuals do not need to obtain a prescription from a private healthcare provider so long as they are requesting naloxone from an entity registered at www.optIN.in.gov.
Naloxone is approved by the Food and Drug Administration and has been used for more than 40 years by emergency medical services personnel to reverse opioid overdose and revive people who might have died without treatment. It is not addictive, and although it is only effective at reversing overdoses of opioid drugs like heroin or prescription painkillers, it is not harmful if administered to someone who has not taken opioids.
