By Maggie Carey
WKTV Contributor
The Kent County Health Department has rung in the New Year with a partnership with the Grand Rapids Red Project to provide free access to life-saving Narcan in a vending machine at its main clinic in Grand Rapids.
The Grand Rapids Red Project is a nonprofit that provides health resources to prevent the spread of disease and save lives. They have partnered with the Kent County Health Department and Cherry Health to provide Narcan vending machines in four locations around Kent County.
What is Narcan and how does it work?
Naloxone, sold and marketed under the brand name Narcan, is a life-saving medication that reverses or reduces the effects of opioids. When a drug overdose occurs, Narcan can be given to reverse the effects of decreased breathing and help the patient regain consciousness. For a more scientific explanation from the National Institute on Drug Abuse, Narcan is an opioid receptor antagonist which means it binds to opioid receptors and reverses or blocks the effects of other opioids.
Why is Narcan needed?
According to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, nearly 92,000 people in the United States died from a drug-involved overdose in 2020. The State of Michigan reported in 2018, there were 2,809 deaths from drug overdoses in Michigan alone.
In Kent County, Rachel Jantz from the Kent County Opioid Task Force, said there is an increased need for Narcan due to the synthetic opioid Fentanyl becoming more pervasive in the community.
The opioid epidemic is one of the largest public health crises in United States history and Narcan is an available resource to help mitigate drug overdose deaths.
How do you administer Narcan?
The vending machines available in Kent County are stocked with intranasal Narcan, a spray that can only be applied into the nose to produce its desired effect. The Nasal Spray contains only 1 dose of medicine and cannot be reused. The steps of Narcan administration are as follows and cited by the official Narcan website:
Step 1: Lay the person on their back and support their neck.
Step 2: Remove Narcan Nasal Spray from the box. Peel back the tab with the circle to open the Narcan Nasal Spray.
Step 3: Hold the Narcan Nasal Spray with your thumb on the bottom of the red plunger and your first and middle fingers on either side of the nozzle.
Step 4: Tilt the person’s head back and provide support under the neck with your hand. Gently insert the tip of the nozzle into one nostril until your fingers on either side of the nozzle are against the bottom of the person’s nose.
Step 5: Press the red plunger firmly to give the dose of Narcan Nasal Spray. Remove from the nostril after giving the dose.
Step 6: Call 911 for emergency medical help.
Where can Narcan be found?
Narcan is now available for free to residents of Kent County at four locations thanks to the Grand Rapids Red Project and its partnership with the Kent County Health Department and Cherry Health. These machines have 24-hour access and to use them, just type in the slot that has an available pack and the vending machine will distribute the pack cost-free.
Residents are encouraged to take a one or two of the sprays to have on hand for an emergency. Narcan has a shelf life of about two to three years. Recent studies have shown that naloxone, the drug in Narcan, can last up to 30 years past its expiration date although people are encouraged to refresh their supply within that two- to three-year mark.
The locations of the four vending machines are:
Kent County Health Department, 700 Fuller Ave NE (located at the environmental health entrance which is left from the main building entrance)
Cherry Health’s Heart of the City, 100 Cherry Street SE
Red Project, 401 Hall SE
Cherry Health’s Montcalm Health Center, 1003 N Lafayette St.
