Free public naxolone dispensary now offers OD reversal drug to Taftville neighborhood
Norwich — A new metal box was installed Thursday outside the Taftville Volunteer Fire Department and was stocked later that day with small boxes, each containing two doses of Narcan, the opioid overdose reversal drug.
The dispensary, which is the size of a large medicine cabinet, was placed between the fire station at 134 Providence St. and the neighborhood basketball court.
It is Norwich’s first free public dispensary for naloxone, the pharmaceutical name for the life-saving nasal spray. The right side of the placard urges people to call 911 for emergencies.
Inside, 13 boxes of Narcan are stacked neatly, and several fentanyl test strips and postcards listing addiction recovery resources are tucked at the side. Two sturdy clamps snap the waterproof cabinet shut.
With the installation in Taftville, Norwich joins a countywide effort to make the opioid overdose reversal drug more accessible to people who need it, or who know someone who might need the drug.
New London County Cares, a collaboration between Ledge Light Health District and Alliance for Living, based in New London, launched the effort after obtaining a grant from the state Department of Public Health, said Jennifer Muggeo, executive director of Ledge Light. The group purchased 16 naloxone cabinets with the grant and used other funding sources to purchase the boxes containing the nasal spray and fentanyl test strips.
The first dispensaries were installed two years ago in New London, Groton, Waterford and Stonington. Uncas Health District and Chatham Health District joined the effort to cover all municipalities in New London County.
The first box in the Uncas Health District was erected on Main Street in Jewett City. Norwich recently received two cabinets, and there are plans to place one in Montville and
in Ledyard, said Uncas Health District Executive Director Patrick McCormack.
McCormack credited the multi-agency effort to bring naloxone to neighborhoods and thanked Norwich Public Utilities for erecting a new pole for the Taftville box.
Muggeo said the collaboration is trying to address the opioid epidemic, and one way is to “saturate our communities with naloxone.”
Taftville Fire Chief Timothy Jencks said Kate Milde at Norwich Human Services approached him and asked if the fire department would host a public dispensary.
Milde said the Norwich Opioid Task Force is discussing where to place the second cabinet. She said one possible site is in Greeneville outside the Norwich Fire Department’s North Main Street station. Another possible spot would be on Central Avenue.
Muggeo said the collaboration has asked host sites to check the box periodically to see if it needs to be refilled. Muggeo said when a cabinet was installed at the Fiddleheads food cooperative store in New London earlier this year, it needed to be refilled weekly.
“The real goal is to make naloxone accessible to people who face barriers to receiving it,” Muggeo said. “Maybe they work during the day and can’t get to our office. Or they are just not ready to have a conversation about being worried about a person who might need naloxone.”