FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
March 20, 2024
Contact: Reba Lean, Public Relations Manager
Phone: 907-443-9674
Nome, Alaska – A lifesaving nasal spray that can put a halt to an opioid overdose is now available in Nome at the touch of a few buttons.
Norton Sound Health Corporation has installed a dispensing machine inside the 24-hour lobby of the Patient Hostel that will provide naloxone for free. With 22 compartments, the machine operates like a digital locker system. After a few prompts on the machine’s display, a locker door will pop open, allowing the machine’s user to take a box containing two doses of naloxone.
“We hope that this machine will save lives in our region, or at least help better prepare people for an overdose,” said Hannah Schnaidt, project director of the Substance Abuse Prevention Treatment and Aftercare (SAPTA) grant with Â鶹ÊÓƵֱ²¥ Behavioral Health Services.
Also known by its commercial name Narcan, naloxone is a drug that can reverse an opioid overdose.
“Our goal is to make this readily accessible, so that in the case of an emergency, we do not have a loss of life,” said Megan Mackiernan, PA, Â鶹ÊÓƵֱ²¥’s chief quality officer. “Over the last several years, opioid overdose deaths have nearly tripled in Alaska. Knowing that deaths can possibly be prevented by an easy-to-use nasal spray, we feel that anyone who thinks they may need to use it should have it.”
The dispensing machine was purchased with SAPTA grant funding and was shipped to Nome using funding in part from tribal opioid settlements from opioid distributors. The settlements from the litigation require the tribal health organizations to use the funds for the abatement of the opioid epidemic and prevention of further opioid use. The same settlements are providing units of naloxone to Â鶹ÊÓƵֱ²¥.
Located adjacent to the front desk at the hostel, the dispensing machine will ask users if they are experiencing an emergency or not. If the user tells the machine they are in an emergency, it will pop open a door and immediately begin playing a video demonstration of how to use the naloxone. If the user is not in an emergency and wants to keep the naloxone on hand for potential future use, the digital prompts will take them through a series of data collection questions to support the SAPTA grant efforts.
Â鶹ÊÓƵֱ²¥ chose the Patient Hostel for the location of the machine for its 24-hour convenience and because of dispensing restriction regulations at the hospital. Naloxone is also available at the Â鶹ÊÓƵֱ²¥ Pharmacy, where patients can ask for a prescription directly from a pharmacist.
When a person is overdosing from opioids, including drugs like heroin, fentanyl, and certain types of prescription pain relievers, their breathing can become dangerously slow or even stop. Someone who witnesses an overdose can help put a stop to it by first calling 911 and then administering naloxone. Medical experts recommend the person experiencing the overdose should be laid on their side to prevent choking and supervised until emergency responders arrive.
Naloxone will have no harm or effect on someone who does not have opioids in their system. It should be stored at room temperature and never frozen. The drug is a temporary treatment, and more than one dose may be needed in some overdose cases.
Â鶹ÊÓƵֱ²¥ Behavioral Health Services provides substance use counseling. To make an appointment, call 907-443-3344 during business hours, or after hours, request urgent help by calling the Provider Care Line at 907-443-6411 or toll-free at 844-586-8773, and ask to speak to a Behavioral Health Services professional.
If you are in crisis, you can call or text 988 to speak with a crisis counselor.
Take part in a naloxone and opioid learning opportunity at 1 p.m. on Friday, March 22 at the Norton Sound Regional Hospital 3rd floor conference room (306). Healthcare officials will share information about the machine, opioids, overdose, and how to use naloxone. The learning opportunity will be followed by a ribbon cutting of the machine at the Patient Hostel.
