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JANESVILLE, Wisconsin — On Wednesday, representatives of the Rock County Public Health Department announced a progressive new initiative in the fight against the opioid epidemic.
The team includes nurse Caitlin Turkowski, who said she hopes to round up 200 new red and white bags containing the overdose life-saving drug Narcan and send them to the community.
“It’s like Christmas,” Turkowski said of the state and federal grant funding efforts. “We hope that we can continue to work out the stigma so that people can get the help they need when they are ready.”
The effort comes as the number of overdose deaths is already rising sharply, from 40 in 2020 to 64 in 2021.
“We want to do everything we can to raise awareness about this and get Narcan into the hands of people because people may not even know they are taking fentanyl or opioids. It’s mixed with other things,” said public health strategist Shari Farber.
Chris Wistrom, Ph.D., co-medical director of Mercyhealth, said his hospital will soon have some of the grant-funded kits available in ambulance bays so paramedics can grab them and deliver them at the scene of the overdose. said he was grateful that it was kept in
“As a former paramedic, paramedic, and firefighter, I would love to have this tool at my disposal,” Wistrom said. Because we believe county health care can have an even greater impact.
“I mean, we always help in the moment, but what happens next, what happens next this way? can do […] To help people who are at risk of overdosing again,” he said.
The program was devised last year through the efforts of several clinicians, survivors, and community organizations.
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