Jennings County is one of 34 rural Hoosier communities slated to receive additional kits of naloxone, an opioid overdose antidote administered to revive people and prevent death.
The counties were chosen to receive the grants on the basis on the number of emergency room visits for overdoses, a high number of reported overdoses and lower amount of naloxone use by first responders, according to an Indiana State Department of Health news release.
Naloxone is a non-narcotic medication, is non-addictive and has no effect on someone who has not taken an opioid.
The Indiana State Department of Health is awarding 3,388 of the kits to 95 first responder agencies. The kits and additional emergency response training are being made possible through a four-year, $3.2 million Substance Abuse and Mental Health Services Administration grant awarded to the state health department last year, the news release said.
“This rural grant funding is putting naloxone into the hands of first responders who are working on the front lines of the opioid epidemic,” Katie Hokanson, Indiana State Department of Health trauma and injury prevention director, said in a news release. “Some rural residents are miles from a health care provider, so supplying those first responders with naloxone can save lives during those time-sensitive situations when seconds count.”
Individual Hoosiers in need of naloxone can legally obtain the medication without a prescription at locations throughout the state. For more information go online at optin.in.gov.
