Calhoun County has installed its first Narcan vending machine at the Battle Creek Homeless Shelter. The Battle Creek Shelter was selected due to its accessibility to downtown and the fact that it is open 24 hours/7 days a week. This machine dispenses free naloxone nasal rescue kits to anyone who thinks they may need one. The rescue kit contains two doses of naloxone/narcan with instructions for how to administer it as well as gloves, rescue mask and resource information for treatment. Narcan is a lifesaving medication used to reverse an opioid overdose. With the increase in opioid overdoses in this county, having lifesaving medication accessible to everyone, anytime, is critical to the efforts to keep those that are struggling with addiction alive and connect them to services. This important tool in the fight against opioid overdose death rates can be administered to someone that is having an overdose by a family member, friend or support.
Across the United States, drug overdose deaths had reached a record high during the COVID-19 pandemic. This increase has been attributed to new health polices meant to mitigate the spread of disease, like the reduction in access to services, the disruption in getting connected to treatment, mental health problems worsened by the pandemic and the infiltration of fentanyl as a dangerously potent substitute for heroin. From 2019 to 2020, drug related death rates in Calhoun County rose by 21% and then increased again by 13% from 2020 to 2021. In 2021, 45 of the 59 overdoses in this county involved an opioid. The Narcan Vending Machine is one of many strategies that the county uses to combat the opioid crisis. Education on the harmful effects of opioid use along with stigma reduction and ultimately getting people to treatment are the top priorities in the county.
Across the United States, drug overdose deaths had reached a record high during the COVID-19 pandemic. This increase has been attributed to new health polices meant to mitigate the spread of disease, like the reduction in access to services, the disruption in getting connected to treatment, mental health problems worsened by the pandemic and the infiltration of fentanyl as a dangerously potent substitute for heroin. From 2019 to 2020, drug related death rates in Calhoun County rose by 21% and then increased again by 13% from 2020 to 2021. In 2021, 45 of the 59 overdoses in this county involved an opioid. The Narcan Vending Machine is one of many strategies that the county uses to combat the opioid crisis. Education on the harmful effects of opioid use along with stigma reduction and ultimately getting people to treatment are the top priorities in the county.
Anyone in the community can access the kits free of charge by going to the Battle Creek Homeless Shelter at 209 E. Michigan Avenue, Battle Creek, MI 49014.
Picture left to right: Ashley Markovich, Summit Pointe Recovery Coach; Dawn R. Smith, Substance Abuse Council, Executive Director; Heather Vought, Substance Abuse Council, Program Manager; Nicole Dupont, Summit Pointe, Director of Strategic Development; Jeannie Goodrich, Summit Pointe, CEO; Latia Williams, Battle Creek Homeless Shelter
SUBSTANCE ABUSE COUNCIL
269-966-7580
drsmith@calhouncountymi.gov
Narcan/Naxolone
Education & Distribution
DrugFeeBC.org/narcan
