Bartholomew County Health Department officials plan to request about 1,100 doses of a medication designed to reverse or block the potentially fatal effects of an opioid overdose.
Health department board members gave the county health department approval to apply for the Indiana State Department of Health’s Naloxone Kit Grant, which seeks to increase the amount of naloxone available in communities across the state.
Naloxone, also known by brand names Narcan and Evzio, is a medication that temporarily blocks opioid receptors from being activated by opioid molecules in heroin, fentanyl and pain medications, which can counteract the potentially deadly effects of an opioid overdose, including respiratory depression, according to the National Institute on Drug Abuse.
County health officials plan to request 500 doses of the medication for ASAP, 200 for Centerstone and 150 for Columbus Regional Health’s Treatment and Support Center (TASC), said Amanda Organist, director of nursing at the Bartholomew County Health Department. Additionally, local officials likely will request an additional 250 doses for other agency partners. The deadline for the grant is Feb. 2, Organist said.
For more on this story, see Saturday’s Republic.
