Naloxone training in New Castle County, Delaware
MeadowWood Behavioral Health offers multiple levels of care from inpatient to partial hospitalization programming for adolescents, adults, and seniors. We are the trusted provider of mental health and substance abuse treatment in the New Castle, Delaware, area.
Over the past few years, the opioid epidemic has caught many individuals within its grasp, and many of those individuals have been unable to make it out alive. The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) report that over 52,000 people died nationwide from a drug overdose in 2015. However, 63% of those individuals’ overdoses occurred at the hands of opioids like heroin and prescription painkillers. Rates of heroin-related deaths increased by 20.6% between 2014 and 2015 alone, according to the CDC.
While nationwide rates of opioid use are booming, some smaller cities across the country are seeing a decrease in their rates of opioid overdoses because of the presence of a life-saving substance known as Narcan within their communities. One of these cities is New Castle, Delaware, which has seen a 39% decrease in opioid-related deaths between 2014 and 2015 because this medication is in the hands of the right people.
Narcan, which is the brand name for naloxone, is a medication that is effective in reversing the effects of an opioid overdose in an individual. This medication can be administered nasally or intravenously to help revive an individual who is experiencing an overdose on opioids like heroin, fentanyl, morphine, or other prescription painkillers, or illicit opioid substances.
For the past few years, many state legislations have approved emergency medical workers, such as EMTs and authority figures like police officers, to carry Narcan with them at all times in the event that they come across an individual who is suffering from an opioid overdose. With the proper training, many of these men and women have been able to effectively reverse the effects of these dangerous substances, helping to not only save the lives of those afflicted, but to also help decrease the presence of opioid abuse in cities nationwide. Seeing the benefit of this substance when it is in the hands of those who know how to properly use it, many cities are taking a page from this book and helping to educate their communities on this substance and how to administer it.
New Castle County in Delaware is one of those cities working to educate the public about Narcan and how they can help decrease rates of opioid overdoses within their community. Training sessions have been held in the area that have invited community members to come and learn how to utilize the nasal spray version of Narcan. With many individuals being provided this medication when a loved one is grappling with an opioid addiction and/or is simply being prescribed an opioid medication that possesses the potential to cause overdose if misused, it is imperative not only to those individuals, but to their community members as well, to know how to properly administer this drug to save the life of someone in need.
When communities get educated on a simple, life-saving medication, they can help to continue to decrease the rates of opioid overdose deaths and begin to help save the lives of those who deserve a second chance at a happy, healthy existence.
