Naloxone giveaway to combat overdose deaths
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ALPENA -- A treeful of messages could help people kick their drug or alcohol addictions, a recovery advocate hopes.
Next week, staff at the Sunrise Centre, Alpena's in-patient addiction recovery center, will give away boxes containing a drug that can reverse the effects of an opioid overdose.
The giveaway will coincide with International Overdose Awareness Day, marked each day on Aug. 31.
The drug, naloxone -- often called by a common brand name, Narcan -- helps a person whose breath has slowed or stopped because of an opioid overdose to wake up and keep breathing.
Last year, the center gave away 250 naloxone kits during an Overdose Awareness Day giveaway.
Sunrise Centre Clinical Director Kathy Freel ordered 350 kits for this year's event and hopes to run out.
Those who pick up a kit may also write a note to hang on a tree outside the center, sharing words the writer would like to say to someone lost to an overdose.
Freel plans to gather those notes after the event and share them with residents at the center.
Maybe the words will offer needed encouragement to keep working at their recovery, she hopes.
"We just want to help save lives," Freel said.
In 2021, Alpena-area doctors reported 118 emergency room visits for overdoses, according to the Michigan Department of Health and Human Services.
People with drug addictions or experimenting with drugs are at risk of overdose, but so are people with legitimate access to pain medication prescriptions who might misunderstand directions or accidentally take an extra dose.
Anyone who spends time around other people, whether at a business or in a park, could someday encounter someone experiencing an overdose. A naloxone kit at the ready could be what stands between that overdose and death, Freel said.
The drug is administered via a nasal spray that requires no medical knowledge. It only works for an overdose caused by opioids and can cause no physical harm if given when not needed, experts say.
Some, concerned the drug can cause more harm than good, say easy access to naloxone can actually lead to increased overdose risk. People misusing drugs may believe they are safe taking large amounts of opioids as long as they have the overdose-reversing drug.
Freel, who said she has never had to administer naloxone, said placing the drug in as many hands as possible means lives may be saved, and that has to be her main goal.
The naloxone giveaway is only one in a wide range of supports a community needs to offer to fight drug abuse, Freel said.
Events such as an expungement clinic -- held last week to help people hide their criminal records so they can get homes and jobs -- and an upcoming driver's license restoration clinic position people who might be battling addiction to follow positive paths, she said.
Other recent Alpena-area efforts -- including the formation of a Families Against Narcotics group and Hope Not Handcuffs, an initiative at the Alpena County Sheriff's Office that offers addiction help -- bolster the work of the courts, medical centers, health department officials, mental health workers, social services agencies, and others trying to combat drug misuse.
People willing to pick up a naloxone kit can be a part of that circle, Freel said.
"The more supports you have in place," she said, "the better chance you have of staying in recovery."
Julie Riddle can be reached at 989-358-5693, jriddle@thealpenanews.com or on Twitter @jriddleX.