Saturday, May 24, 2014
Staff report
WARREN
The Trumbull County Board of Health and Trumbull County Mental Health and Recovery Board are moving forward with a project to provide Naloxone kits to the public.
The board of health is hoping to secure grant funds to pay for acquisition of the drug and hopes to make it available within three months.
Naloxone is a drug that reverses the effects of an opiate overdose.
Kits contain the drug, an atomizer that allows it to be administered nasally and educational materials such as a DVD and pamphlet.
Sandy Swann, director of nursing, said people are expressing concern about the dangers posed to young people experimenting with drugs, not necessarily hard-core users but people who may take something without realizing what it is.
Such people could overdose on a drug such as OxyContin without realizing what they took. And a dose of Naloxone could save their life, she said.
Opiate death rates have risen in recent years, and pilot programs that have provided Naloxone kits to the public, such as the one in Cuyahoga County, “are having a positive result,” Swann said.
“We want them to leave with not just a drug but information on how to get that friend or loved one into a treatment center,” she said.
The board of health plans to secure 50 kits for distribution at first and gauge the interest before deciding whether to pursue a larger project, Swann said.
Trumbull County Mental Health and Recovery Board has offered to provide the educational materials that will be provided with the kits.