Narcan available at NSHC’s patient hostel
An overdose-reversing nasal spray is now available to pick up from a dispensing machine in the lobby of Norton Sound Health Corporation’s patient hostel in Nome.
NSHC held a ribbon-cutting ceremony on Friday to unveil the machine, where anyone can pick up a free package of naloxone, also known by its brand name Narcan.
According to NSHC, the patient hostel was chosen because it provides 24-hour access but also because the hospital has dispensing restriction regulations. Anyone could also ask for naloxone from a pharmacist NSHC Pharmacy.
By restoring normal breathing, naloxone can help reverse the deadly effects of overdose from heroin, fentanyl and opioid-containing prescription painkillers.
“Our goal is to make this readily accessible, so that in the case of an emergency, we do not have a loss of life,” Megan Mackiernan, NSHC’s chief quality officer, said in a statement from the health corporation. “Over the last several years, opioid overdose deaths have nearly tripled in Alaska. Knowing that deaths can possibly be prevented by an easy-touse nasal spray, we feel that anyone who thinks they may need to use it should have it.”
Naloxone in its nasal-spray form was first approved as a prescription drug in 2015. But in late March 2023, the U.S. Food and Drug Administration approved it for nonprescription use, meaning it could be available over the counter in places like drug stores and convenience stores. The nasal spray is also available online. The list price on Amazon for a pack of two single doses is about $45.
NSHC said the new dispensing machine was funded by a grant from the Indian Health Service’s Substance Abuse Prevention, Treatment, and Aftercare program. It is also funded in part by recent tribal opioid settlements, in which hundreds of federally recognized tribal entities across the country reached settlements with the manufacturers and distributors of opioids. Through this litigation, tribal health organizations got an influx of funding to use to mitigate the opioid epidemic.
A screen on the dispensing machine at the hostel asks users if they are experiencing an emergency or not. In the case of an emergency, a door will pop open to release the nasal spray kit and a video will show how to use the naloxone. Others can also pick up naloxone to be prepared for future emergencies, but according to NSHC, the machine will first ask them a few questions that will be used for IHS grant data collection.
Narcan is also carried by Nome’s police officers and the emergency responders in the volunteer fire and ambulance departments. Nome Emergency Services Technician Hunter Bellamy said these responders get their kits from the Nome Public Health Center and they are encouraged to carry them even off duty.
“I think anything anybody’s doing to prevent a loss of life, we’re going to be supportive of,” Bellamy said of the new dispensing machine.
Bellamy noted that some naloxone kits also contain helpful fentanyl test strips, another important line of defense in preventing overdoses. Many recent cases of opioid overdoses in the U.S. have been attributed to fentanyl poisoning, where someone doesn’t realize that the drug they are taking has been tainted with fentanyl.
According to the U.S. National Institutes of Health, some signs of an opioid overdose are unconsciousness, very small pupils, slow or shallow breathing, vomiting, limp arms and legs, an inability to speak, pale skin, faint heartbeat and purple lips and fingernails.
NSHC advises that anyone witnessing an overdose should call 911 before they administer naloxone. The person suffering the overdose should also be laid on their side to prevent choking and supervised until responders arrive.
Naloxone should not have any side effects on someone without opioids in their system. But that means it also won’t reverse the effects of other drugs like cocaine or methamphetamine.