Narcan to be placed in all county buildings

By Jamie Swinnerton
Tompkins Weekly

 

Earlier this month on April 17 the Tompkins County legislature unanimously passed a resolution to stock every county building with the life-saving drug Naloxone, often referred to as Narcan, that can reverse the symptoms of an opioid drug overdose. The county Department of Emergency Response will be responsible for the distribution and oversight of the Narcan to each building, and the training to administer the drug that will be offered to county employees.

The resolution was the idea of county legislator Shawna Black, who represents District 11, and has worked with the Southern Tier AIDS Program.

“For a while now we’ve been talking about Narcan and the effects that it has had in our community, how it saves lives and I’ve certainly seen that first-hand working at the Southern Tier AIDS Program,” Black said. “Ithaca College is implementing having Narcan in its buildings, so it really seems very natural that the county pursue initiatives that do the same.”

The Narcan will be placed with the AB Defibrillators in the county buildings so it’s easy for employees and visitors to use. Narcan is easy to administer, it’s just a nasal spray, but county employees will be given the chance to take training in the administration.

“You just do one shot in each nostril,” Black said. “Many times, it does reverse the side effects of the overdose.”

Narcan has already been placed, and used, in the Department of Social Services building. Black said it just makes sense to expand the program to more buildings. But, since the legislature only has authority over county buildings this is where they will start.

“It’s not cost prohibitive at this point,” Black said. “We’ve seen that Narcan can save lives. The people that are coming into our buildings, no one knows anyone’s background so if someone is struggling with substance abuse and they are overdosing there is no reason why we should not have these in our building.”

According to the resolution, the county employs more than 700 workers at 19 buildings and various work sites, hosting hundreds of citizens and visitors each day. The Departments of Probation, Mental Health, and Human Services, as well as the Tompkins County Sheriff’s Office, have already acquired Narcan and have established protocols for how to use it. Like with alcohol overdosing, the “Good Samaritan” rule as governed by state Public Health Law apply to the administration of Narcan.

This measure is in keeping with the health and safety preparation that the county has already taken, said Lee Shurtleff, Director of Emergency Response.

“We have placed automatic, external defibrillators in all the county facilities and with work crews over the last couple years and have had a comprehensive CPR training program, and we’re going to expand that to additional first-aid training and also provide Naloxone in the buildings with the defibrillators so it’s available for use in county facilities should it be needed,” said Shurtleff.

Between the county employees and visitors of the county buildings, hundreds of people are in county facilities each day. In case there should be an incident of an overdose in or near the building, Shurtleff said this resolution makes it easier for there to be a quick response. The Narcan will be available, like a defibrillator, for anyone with training to use in an emergency.

“I can tell you from an emergency responder standpoint that I’ve seen it administered numerous times and seen it successfully used in the field, so I think its availability has certainly been – in its efficacy- has certainly been proven,” Shurtleff said.

According to the resolution, citing the National Institute on Drug Abuse, Naloxone “can immediately reverse the effects of opioid drugs, restoring normal respiration, and reports at least 26,500 opioid overdoses in the U.S. were reversed by laypersons using naloxone between 1996-2014.” Also in the resolution, citing the National Center for Health Statistics, over two-thirds of the 66,000 lives lost to overdoses in 2017 involved opioids.

Since the resolution is strictly for county facilities, more rural communities outside of Ithaca may not be equipped with the Narcan as part of this program.
“It’s really a first-step to get it into the buildings, to expand upon our defibrillator program,” Shurtleff said.

Any of the rural towns and villages that would want to keep Narcan in their own facilities would have to take the initiative to do so, Black said.

“I would love for them to follow suit,” Black said. “I think that’s really where things are headed, as far as providing Narcan and Naloxone in many of the buildings that people walk into.”

With this program, along with the other programs and facilities available or soon-to-be available to help those addicted to opioids, Black believes the county will see a reduction in overdoses this year.