Narcan is used to treat opioid overdoses. (Flickr/VCU CNS)
Narcan kits are now available free of charge at the Haines Fire Department and at SEARHC.
“In these kits are two doses of Narcan. They are a pretty hefty dose, so they’ll work most of the time,” said Tim Holm, an EMT with the Haines Volunteer Fire Department.
Holm says the kit is quick and easy to use, but there are some things that you want to know.
“The most important thing would be, still call 9-1-1 even if you think it worked because it doesn’t last as long as the opiates do, it never seems to,” said Holm. “We’ve administered it on the ambulance and had to re-administer it before we got to the clinic.”
The opioid overdose treatment is being distributed in communities across Alaska through the state-funded initiative, Project Hope.
Those receiving the kits will also be trained on how to use them. The department is required to collect general demographic information such as age and gender when kits are distributed.
Kits are comprised of two, four-milligram doses of Narcan, latex gloves, a CPR shield and instructions on how to use the nasal applicator.
Too much of an opioid—whether it be heroin or prescription opioids— affects parts of the brain that drive breathing. As a result, breathing can become very slow or may stop. Narcan, also known as Naloxone, temporarily blocks or reverses the effects of opioids. In most cases the effect is immediate.
Haines EMS responders have had the kits to use in their work for some time, but didn’t need to begin administering them until recently.
“I administered it for the first time for an overdose patient in 2016,” said Jenn Walsh, also an EMT with the Haines Volunteer Fire Department. “And it was actually not somebody who was using an illicit drug,” said Walsh. “It was actually an elderly person who had forgotten that they had already taken their pain medication and then they took it again. And in the last two years, is when we have been administering it and people are admitting to heroin use.”
Walsh says the Haines Fire Department has administered Narcan about five times per year over the past several years. So far, in 2018, they’ve administered it twice.
In 2017, Alaska Governor Bill Walker directed a series of reforms to address the states opioid public health crisis. Walker issued a disaster declaration on the state’s opioid epidemic, which allowed distribution of Narcan for free without a prescription. He also filed legislation to change how prescription opioids are prescribed and monitored.
The Fire Department also has free medication disposal packets available for the public. Both Holm and Walsh added that they are willing to deliver both the Narcan and medication disposal kits to people at their homes if they are unable for any reason to pick them up from the fire department.
During Tuesday’s Haines Borough Assembly meeting, Borough Manager, Debra Schnabel requested the assembly not place Narcan in automated defibrillators in Haines at a cost of $3,000, citing concerns about theft and monitoring.
The Assembly directed Schnabel to research the possibility of pairing the two life-saving tools together at strategic locations across the community. The Assembly also directed the public safety commission to research the public health impact of opioids in Haines.
