Oneida County Aims To Expand Naloxone Access To More Public Places

The Oneida County Opioid Task Force is launching its new “Save A Life” Campaign.

The campaign will expand access to naloxone by distributing free overdose rescue kits to more public places, including businesses and community organizations.

The objectives of the “Save a Life” campaign are to greatly increase the number of public places that have naloxone, to help laypersons recognize signs of an overdose and to understand how easy it is to administer naloxone nasal spray, which when administered on time, can avert overdose death.

“At a time when we are seeing the highest rates of overdoses and overdose deaths across the nation, we need to not only think outside of the box to expand distribution and ease of access to naloxone, but also treat it as a standard emergency tool that should be as readily available as fire extinguishers, AED devices, EpiPens and other commonsense items we keep in our first aid kits,” said Oneida County Executive Anthony Picente.

Those interested can get a free “Save A Life” Overdose Rescue Kit, which contains two Narcan nasal spray doses, or a Narcan Emergency Cabinet, which also contains two nasal spray doses.

For more information, you can  go to the OTF website at ocopioidtaskforce.org

Narcan doses for either option will be replaced by the Opioid Task Force at no cost after use.

The County’s Overdose Detection and Mapping Application Program has issued multiple overdose spike alerts in the last several weeks, as well as tracked 38 suspected overdose fatalities year-to-date.