Wolf Administration Officials Join Luzerne County Fire Chief to Highlight Need to Equip All First Responders with Life-Saving Naloxone

WILKES-BARRE, Pa., July 28, 2017 /PRNewswire-USNewswire/ -- Wolf Administration officials today joined Wilkes-Barre City Fire Chief Jay Delaney to highlight how naloxone, a life-saving opioid overdose reversal drug, should be available for all first responders.

"First responders are on the front lines of the battle against opioid overdoses and have already saved more than 3,800 lives using naloxone," Acting Health Secretary and Physician General Dr. Rachel Levine said. "It's essential that all first responders have access to naloxone because it saves lives. Communities such as Wilkes-Barre are not only keeping residents safe, but they give people battling addiction a chance at recovery." 

Naloxone rapidly reverses heroin and other opioid overdoses, the leading cause of accidental death in Pennsylvania, killing more individuals each year than motor vehicle accidents.

"EMS workers play a critical role in helping us combat the opioid crisis. We are losing 13 Pennsylvanians a day to overdoses, and often the first responders are the ones who can use naloxone to reverse the effects of opioids and save the lives of individuals experiencing a drug overdose," said Jennifer Smith, Acting Secretary of the Department of Drug and Alcohol Programs. "The next step on the road to recovery is to have the overdose survivor met at the hospital by a warm-handoff team that can work to persuade the survivor to go directly to treatment."

The Wolf Administration holds the fight against heroin and prescription opioids as a top priority. To continue the battle against the opioid epidemic in Pennsylvania, Governor Wolf included the following proposals in his 2017-18 budget:

• Expanding access to life-saving naloxone by providing $10 million through the Pennsylvania Commission on Crime and Delinquency to first responders, law enforcement, and other public entities across the commonwealth;
• Maximizing federal 21st Century Cures Act funding, which includes $26.2 million in each of the next two years for Pennsylvania, to expand access to treatment services, particularly for individuals who are uninsured or underinsured; and
• Providing $3.4 million to expand specialty drug courts to expand treatment strategies that divert offenders into more meaningful treatment and recovery.

Some of the administration's other initiatives to fight the opioid epidemic include:

• Working with the legislature to establish a new law limiting the number of opioids that can be prescribed to a minor and to individuals discharged from emergency rooms to seven days;
• Strengthening the Prescription Drug Monitoring Program (PDMP) through the legislative process so that doctors are required and able to check the system each time they prescribe opioids and benzodiazepines;
• Forming new prescribing guidelines to help doctors who provide opioid prescriptions to their patients, including guidelines specific to orthopedics and sports medicine;
• Creating the warm handoff guideline to facilitate referrals from the emergency department to substance abuse treatment;
• Teaming with the legislature to establish education curriculum on safe prescribing for medical schools;
• Educating and encouraging patients to properly use, store and dispose of unused prescription medications through drug take-back initiatives, and expanding the number of drug take-back locations to more than 500; and
• Increasing the availability of naloxone.

If you or someone you know is suffering from the disease of addiction, call 1-800-662-HELP or visit www.pa.gov/opioids for treatment options. For more information on the fight against opioid abuse in Pennsylvania, visit the Department of Health website at www.health.pa.gov or follow us on Facebook and Twitter.

MEDIA CONTACT:   April Hutcheson, Health, 717-787-1783 or [email protected] 
Carol Gifford, DDAP, 717- 547-3314

SOURCE Pennsylvania Department of Health; Pennsylvania Department of Drug and Alcohol Programs

Related Links

http://www.health.pa.gov/