HELP FOR OVERDOSES — Clark Crago, director of the TEMS Joint Ambulance District, installs a NaloxBox containing an opioid overdose relief kit in the rest area at state Routes 7 and 213 in Saline Township. One of two placed in restrooms there, it is part of an ongoing effort to reduce the number of deaths attributable to opioid overdose and includes information about seeking help for recovery from addiction. -- Contributed

IRONDALE — As part of its daily mission to save lives whenever needed, the TEMS Joint Ambulance District has been working with others to make it possible for non-medical personnel to do the same.

Clark Crago, director of the ambulance service, said the agency has installed a special box in each of the restrooms of the rest area near state Routes 7 and 213 with materials anyone can use to help a person suffering from an opioid overdose.

Inside each NaloxBox are nasal sprays containing two doses of 4 milligrams each of naloxone. Commonly sold as Narcan, the drug is used to reverse the effects of an opioid overdose.

The rest area was chosen because such overdoses have occurred there in the past, but Crago and other officials hope to install NaloxBoxes at other public places.

Installed in June with the cooperation of the Ohio Department of Transportation, the boxes are the first in the state to be offered at a location outside of the turnpike, noted Ashley Wilson, a community engagement facilitator for the HEALing Communities Study.

Funded by the National Institutes of Health and Substance Abuse and Substance Abuse and Mental Health Services Administration, the study is aimed at significantly reducing opioid overdose deaths.

Its goal has been to identify methods that are most effective in preventing and treating opioid overuse and reduce deaths by overdose by 40 percent during the next three years.

Its scope includes communities in Kentucky, New York and Massachusetts as well as Ohio, where its efforts have been supported by Gov. Mike DeWine’s RecoveryOhio program.

Involving 19 randomly selected counties in various parts of the Buckeye State, the study involves Ohio State University, the University of Cincinnati, Case Western Reserve University, Ohio University, University of Toledo, Wright State University and the Nationwide Children’s Hospital.

“The drug epidemic has touched the lives of many Ohioans and we know that no community is immune,” said Aimee Shadwick, director of RecoveryOhio. By providing naloxone at rest areas, we want more Ohioans to have timely access to naloxone. We can save lives and give people a chance to access treatment and recovery services.”

Crago noted each NaloxBox includes information about treatment available to the overdose victim as well as directions for administering the drug and a small mask designed to reduce the risk of infection in the event his or her rescuer must administer cardiopulmonary resuscitation.

Naloxone blocks the effects of opioids, helping to restore breathing to a person who has overdosed. It also may disrupt euphoric feelings created by an opioid, which can result in an aggressive response when the drug is administered in higher doses.

But Crago said the doses contained in the NaloxBox’s nasal sprays are small and unlikely to stir such a reaction. He said they also aren’t harmful to someone who is not suffering from an overdose, should the person administering the drug be mistaken.

Common signs of an opioid overdose are small, constricted “pinpoint” pupils; slow, shallow breathing; choking or gurgling sounds; pale, blue or cold skin; and a limp body.

An overdose victim may be unconscious or appear sleepy.

Having treated many overdose victims, Crago said he and his staff have met people who, after becoming addicted to opiates, realized the near-death experience was a warning to seek help.

He added senior citizens taking opiates for medical conditions can inadvertently overdose.

Crago said opiate addiction often begins when such drugs are prescribed for treatment of pain, and victims of overdose have come from all walks of life.

The one thing they have in common is each is someone’s loved one, he said.

“That’s still somebody’s family member. Somebody’s going to miss them,” said Crago.

He said a tag on the NaloxBox is broken each time it’s used, so TEMS staff know when it must be restocked, and because of that, he knows a kit at the rest area has been accessed eight times since they were installed several weeks ago.

Crago said the ambulance service wasn’t dispatched to the rest area but it’s not uncommon for overdoses to be unreported.

Through a $477,668 grant from a separate program through the Prevention, Education and Research Unit of the University of Pittsburgh School of Pharmacy, TEMS also has been distributing naloxone to the families of overdose survivors as well as information about treatment programs.

Also involved in local efforts are members and agencies represented by the Jefferson County Prevention and Recovery Board.

The Jefferson County Health Department recently distributed many free naloxone kits as part of the HEALing Communities Study.

Jefferson County Health Commissioner Andrew Henry is hopeful that such steps will reduce local deaths by opioid overdose.

He said the health department has a record of 42 such deaths last year, with 13 occurring to date this year.

Henry noted the range of communities where they occurred shows it’s not only an urban problem.

He said of the 13 reported cases, seven were in Steubenville, three were in Dillonvale and one each happened in Empire, Richmond and Adena.

Through the How to Get Help link on its website, RecoveryOhio lists treatment programs available within the Tri-State Area. The Ohio Department of Mental Health and Addiction Services also has a 24-hour helpline at (800) 720-9616.

Don Obertance, associate director of the prevention and recovert board, said of the efforts, “It’s really focused on getting people the help they need. The earlier we can do that, the sooner that person’s life is saved and will have greater meaning in the community.”