Heroin overdose kits available for free in Cleveland

Staff report

CLEVELAND

Naloxone kits, which can reverse the effects of an overdose from an opioid such as heroin, are available for free to Mahoning and Trumbull county residents at two Cleveland locations.

Emily Metz with Cleveland MetroHealth Medical Center, program assistant for Project DAWN (Deaths Avoided with Naloxone), said the kits are available to Mahoning or Trumbull County residents on a walk-in basis from 9 a.m. to noon Fridays at the Cuyahoga County Board of Health, 550 Venture Drive, Parma; and from 1 to 5 p.m. Fridays at the Free Medical Clinic of Greater Cleveland, 12201 Euclid Ave., Cleveland.

Training takes about 20 minutes and includes education on the risk factors for overdose, how to recognize an overdose and how to respond to an overdose.

Kits contain two vials of intranasal Naloxone (also known as Narcan), one educational DVD, one educational flip book and one face mask for rescue breathing.

Metz recommends that anyone at risk of opioid overdose come to receive a kit, as well as anyone who knows someone at risk of opioid overdose. The kits are restricted to one per person who attends the training.