By Ryan Fogg, Sept. 17, 2024
The Pomona Valley Hospital Medical Center has started distributing Narcan, an opioid overdose antidote, and providing fentanyl test kits to patients outside its emergency room to prevent drug-related deaths.
According to the Centers of Disese Control and Prevention, synthetic opioids are the primary driver of overdose deaths in the United States, and the number of reported drug overdoses from January 2020 to January 2024 spiked by 46%. Fentanyl, because of its low cost and high potency, is being mixed with other illicit drugs to increase the potency and get users hooked quicker. The Drug Enforcement Administration claims that fentanyl is often sold as powders, nasal sprays and has been pressed into pills to look like real prescription opioids.
Naloxone, better known as Narcan, can reverse a drug overdose if taken promptly, thus lowering the risk of opioid-related deaths.
“It kicks out the opioid receptors, reverses the overdose and the patient wakes up,” said Sherrie Cisneros, a substance use navigator at the Pomona Valley Hospital Medical Center.
In August, the Pomona Valley Hospital Medical Center started providing fentanyl test strips, also located outside of the emergency room distribution box.
“So far, we have given out 2,000 boxes of fentanyl test strips,” said Cisneros. “The goal is to reduce the stigma and biases of drug overdoses by giving free access to these resources.”
Cisneros said that the hospital is not looking into reasons why people are taking drugs, but instead, want to be sure that people are safe no matter if they are using legal or illegal drugs.
She said that the hospital also champions the substance abuse program that provides services such as community education, emergency medical care, prevention tools and referrals for those who are struggling with substance abuse.
To address the opioid epidemic, many health institutions started providing free naloxone, including the Los Angeles County Department of Public Health and local CVS and Walgreens pharmacies.
Cal Poly Pomona also provides Narcan and fentanyl kits free to all students and staff who request them as a result of the Campus Opioid Safety Act, which aims to reduce opioid-related overdoses and deaths among public college and university students. The act requires each community college district, the California State University system and the University of California system to provide educational information on opioid overdoses in addition to offering free opioid reversal medication.
Free Narcan and fentanyl kits are distributed from the Bronco Wellness Center. The Bronco Wellness Center also provides other resources and health-related programs, such as sexual health, mental health, physical activity, sleep and stress management.
According to Kenya Luse, the senior coordinator for Health Promotion and Wellness services at the Wellness Center, students can go in person to the center and scan a QR code or visit the center’s website to fill out a form so they can receive the Narcan.
The Wellness Center provides two nasal sprays and three fentanyl strips at a time for each student who requests them.
Allen Blanco, a computer information systems student, said that this initiative can help save lives and that other organizations such as University Housing Services and Associated Students Inc. can help spread more awareness about these resources.
“I didn’t even know the school provided Narcan and fentanyl test kits,” he said. “Being a freshman orientation leader this year, I think it is a great time to spread awareness about the free Narcan and fentanyl kits students is orientation.”
Feature image courtesy of Bryan Doan