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Huntington Stocks Opiate Overdose Drug in Emergency Vehicles
By: Associated Press
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HUNTINGTON, W.Va. (AP) – The city of Huntington says medication that can reverse the effect of opiates in case of an overdose is now stocked on all of the city fire department emergency response vehicles.
The Mayor’s Office of Drug Control Policy said in a news release that all firefighters have completed training and educational sessions on the medication, naloxone, and how to administer it. The office said five lives have been saved with the medication since the Cabell-Huntington Health Department received a supply of naloxone in February.
The Health Department’s physician director, Dr. Michael Kilkenny, says one of the community’s chief concerns is the increasing number of overdose deaths from opioid-based prescription drugs and heroin.
The Huntington Police Department will receive naloxone certification soon. The Health Department offers free naloxone certification to the public.