Olean General Hospital (OGH) and Southern Tier Health Care System, Inc. (STHCS) are launching a new program which starts this week that will help combat the local opioid epidemic.
Over the last decade, deaths from opioid overdoses in young adults has had the fastest increasing death rate. Through a collaborative partnership, patients that are resuscitated in the emergency department at OGH from an opioid overdose, or family and friends of the patient, will be provided with Narcan nasal spray at no cost.
Narcan nasal spray, an emergency medicine used to reverse an opioid overdose, will not only be available through the emergency department but will be included in all publicly accessible AED (automated external defibrillator) cabinets at OGH. This enables anyone nearby an overdose victim to administer the potentially life-saving treatment.
“Adding this service to our emergency department is crucial in helping to address the need in our region,” said Henri Lamothe, MD, chief medical officer, UAHS. “The overall goal of this program is to reduce the fatalities caused by opioid overdoses. This partnership is very important to our community and we’re glad to be working with STHCS on this initiative.”
In addition to offering Narcan to applicable patients during discharge, each patient will also be provided access to MATTERS Network which is a referral platform to connect patients to medications for opioid use disorder (MOUDs) and other resources.
"Expanding the accessibility of Narcan and education on how to reverse an opioid overdose within our community is crucial to saving lives in the current opioid epidemic,” said Donna Kahm, president and CEO, STHCS. “By offering Narcan and education during patient discharge, we hope to reduce the number of opioid-related overdoses and deaths seen within our community."
OGH, So. Tier Health System launch Narcan program | News | oleantimesherald.com