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Trumbull health board to offer overdose-reversal kits
By Ed Runyan
WARREN
The Trumbull County Board of Health has received a $6,550 grant from the Trumbull Memorial Health Foundation to allow the startup of a naloxone program around the first of the year to provide the overdose-reversing drug naloxone (aka Narcan) to friends and family members of addicts.
Sandy Swann, director of nursing, said the money will allow the board of health to acquire and give away 50 kits, each containing two doses of naloxone, an “atomizer” to allow it to be administered nasally, and educational materials.
The Trumbull County Mental Health and Recovery Board will provide a DVD and pamphlet to be included with each kit, Swann said.
Anyone interested in obtaining a kit should call Kathy Parilla at 330-675-2590, option 3 around Jan. 1 or later to make an appointment to receive a free kit and free education on how to use it. Hours are 8:30 a.m. to 3:30 p.m.
The kits, which have a shelf-life of two years, are intended for anyone with a loved-one who is an addict or anyone with concerns about someone overdosing on drugs such as heroin, OxyContin or other opiates.
“It’s to save lives and get help,” said Frank Migliozzi, the director of environmental health at the board of health. Everyone who comes to the health department will be provided with information on how individuals can get help for a drug problem, Swann said.
There will be a registration process for each person obtaining the kit, and anyone seeking a refill will be asked to provide information on how the first kit was used to help with data collection.
An addict who wishes to receive a naloxone kit will be permitted to receive one, but he or she must bring a friend or family member along because the intent of the kit is to use it to save someone’s life, and the individual overdosing frequently cannot administer it to himself or herself, Swann said.
Naloxone isn’t dangerous to someone who receives it — whether that person is overdosing or not. There will be few restrictions on access to the kits, Parilla said.
Statistical information will be gathered as Trumbull County carries out its naloxone program to determine whether the number of people dying of opiate overdoses drops after the program starts, Swann said.
If it does, the board of health will look into securing additional funding to keep it going, she said.