[ad_1]
OAK LAWN, Ill. – A suburban hospital will now offer patients on opioid overdose a free life saving drug.
Advocate Health Care announced Tuesday a partnership with the Chicago Recovery Alliance to distribute free emergency kits with naloxone, or Narcan, to emergency responders who have an overdose or are at risk of overdosing. They said the program aims to prevent overdose deaths.
Matt, twin brother of Steven Stefani, overdosed four times. Naloxone had already saved his life, but the fourth time he died in overdose, Matt died.
"Imagine if someone in your family was drowning and you had to wait for the paramedics to arrive. How much oxygen is cut off from their brains at that time? Stefani said.
Stefani's brother was only 22 when he died.
"Even then, my parents were terrified and they did not know what to do. We are in a state of trauma. You will not be looking for what are your best options, "Stefani said.
Now, if anyone comes to the adult or child hospitals of the Advocate Christ Medical Center with anything associated with opioid abuse or overdose, he will leave with a free intervention kit in case of overdose of naloxone. Naloxone can cancel an overdose of opioids and act quickly.
"After the injection, the drug can take all its effectiveness in three to five minutes. It acts very quickly in case of emergency, "said Christopher Boyle, director of pharmacy at Advocate Christ Medical Center.
Mike Mavrogeorge, Oak Lawn Fire Chief, said the department had responded to 85 overdose incidents recorded so far in 2018.
Of those 85 overdose calls that the Oak Lawn Fire Department responded to, naloxone was used 62 times, saving 62 lives.
Here is the contents of the kit.
- 3 bottles of naloxone
- 3 intramuscular syringes
- dosing instructions
- proximity card with additional resources
Doctors know that the kit is not a quick fix, but that it is at least part of the fight against the opioid epidemic and gives addicts another day of life.
"We can touch them and talk to them without stigmatizing them, looking at them and giving them a tool. It is impossible to send a deceased person to rehabilitation, "said Dr. Diana Bottari of the Opioid Prevention Working Group.
While the drug saves life, the real work begins when overdosed patients try to stay clean and stay clean. The hospital has announced that it will work with patients to help them.
Source link
