The U.S Surgeon General and former Indiana State Health Commissioner Dr. Jerome Adams recently issued an advisory recommending that more Americans carry the opioid overdose-reversing drug, naloxone otherwise known as Narcan.
The Marshall County Health Department has been offering free community Narcan training throughout the month of April and tonight is your final chance to attend one of these life-saving classes. The training will be held at 5 p.m. at the Community Resource Center at 510 West Adams Street in Plymouth.
In his advisory, Dr. Adams stated that no mother should have to bury their child, especially not when there is a lifesaving medication that anyone can access. He said for that reason, he decided to address the opioid crisis head-on with one the first surgeon general advisories to be issued in 13 years.
Marshall County Health Department Administrator Christine Stinson said that carrying a Narcan rescue kit is no different than knowing how to perform CPR because it saves lives. During a presentation, last Thursday the Secretary of Family and Social Services of Indiana, Dr. Jennifer Walthall, noted that you are far more likely to witness an overdose and need to administer Narcan than you are to witness a heart attack or another incident where you’d be required to perform CPR.
From 2010 to 2016, the number of deaths from opioid overdoses doubled in the nation. Research shows that when Narcan rescue kits and overdose education are available in a community, the number of overdose deaths goes down.
Marshall County Health Department educator Theresa Bud noted that they decided to reach out to all the communities in the county so everyone would have an opportunity to attend training and obtain a Narcan rescue kit.
Sessions were held in Argos, Bremen and Culver earlier this month. While tonight’s training will take place in Plymouth, it is open to anyone interested in learning the skills required to save a life after an overdose occurs. If you have any questions, contact the Health Department at (574) 935-8565.
