[ad_1]
Two Chicago suburban hospitals are sending home an overdose opioid antidote for patients seeking treatment for an opioid overdose or addiction.
Advocate Christ Medical Center and Advocate Children's Hospital in Oak Lawn recently began distributing naloxone kits to patients who go to their emergency rooms for help with opioids , such as heroin or certain types of prescription pain relievers.
Naloxone is used to block the effects of opioids during overdoses. It reverses depression of the central nervous system and the respiratory system caused by opioids.
Other Chicago-area hospitals are considering similar measures to curb the growing number of opioid deaths, reported the Chicago Tribune.
About 2,110 people died in Illinois after taking an opioid overdose last year, according to data from the state's Department of Public Health.
Advocate Hospitals kits are free for patients and include medications, syringes, dosing instructions and information on local resources. The kits are provided by the Chicago Recovery Alliance, an organization that seeks to reduce drug-related harm.
To receive a kit, patients and their family members in hospitals should watch a video on how to dispense the reverse action medicine and what to do next.
"We are able to provide this information on hand, as they walk through the door," said Dr. Diana Bottari, head of Opioid Working Group of Advate Health Care and physician for the management of pain in the child. "It's an ability to give them one more day, one more chance."
The hospital system hopes to expand the program to more of its hospitals, pending the results of testing in the coming months at Oak Lawn. Christ Medical and the Children's Hospital have two of the busiest emergency departments of the Advocate system, according to Bottari.
Advocate hospitals are believed to be the first in the region to send patients home with life-saving drugs. But other hospitals are taking similar steps to prevent overdoses.
Edward-Elmhurst Health plans to provide naloxone kits soon in its emergency department, spokesman Keith Hartenberger said. The University of Chicago Medicine is developing a similar program to send patients home with the antidote.
___
Information from: Chicago Tribune, http://www.chicagotribune.com
Copyright 2018 The Associated Press. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, disseminated, rewritten or redistributed.
Source link
