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Health department personnel gearing up to inspect some 400 food stands
CANFIELD
Mahoning County District Board of Health finalized plans for inspection of the estimated 400 food stands expected at the 169th Canfield Fair and approved enacting Project DAWN – Deaths Avoided With Naloxone.
Project DAWN is a community-based drug overdose education and naloxone distribution program which makes naloxone kits available to county residents free of charge.
Naloxone, also known as Narcan, is a medication that can reverse an overdose caused by an opioid drug by blocking the effects of opioids on the brain and restore breathing within two to eight minutes.
A start-up time for the program has not been determined, said Tracy Styka, the county health district’s community health education specialist, who made a presentation on Project DAWN at Wednesday’s board meeting at the Canfield Fairgrounds.
Styka said naloxone, which has been used safely by emergency medical professionals for more than 40 years to reverse the effects of opioid overdose on the brain and respiratory system to prevent death, has no other purpose and is not addictive.
Also, she said, naloxone does not reverse overdoses that are cause by non-opioid drugs, such as cocaine, benzodiazepines such as Xanax, Klonopin and Valium, methamphetamines or alcohol.
Some common opioids include heroin and prescription pain medications such as hydrocodone (Lorcet and Vicodin); oxycodone (Percocet); long-acting opioids (Oxycontin, MS Contin, and Methadone), and patches (Fentanyl).
Along with the free kit, paid for by the Mahoning County Mental Health and Recovery Board, recipients will receive training on how to assemble the nasal spray naloxone and spray it up the victim’s nostrils.
Styka said an average of nearly six Ohio residents die daily from an unintentional drug overdose. There were 2,110 unintentional drug overdose deaths in Ohio in 2013.
For information about Project DAWN, call 330-270-2855, ext. 125.
The board added the health department is busy during the fair, which runs Wednesday through Monday at the fairgrounds.
On Tuesday, health department personnel will be at the agency’s office in the Red Cross Building next to the grandstand providing licenses for food vendors and preparing for inspections on Wednesday and Thursday, said Ryan Tekac, director of the health department’s environmental health division.
On Sept. 4, inspectors recheck vendors who are having problems and for the rest of the fair respond to complaints.
Also, the health department is placing signs in restrooms and animal barns urging people to thoroughly wash their hands before eating food, Tekac said.