KALAMAZOO, MI (WKZO AM/FM) – Officials say a new partnership between the Western Michigan University Homer Stryker M.D. School of Medicine (WMed) and Bronson Healthcare is part of a growing and ongoing initiative to stem the opioid overdose crisis in Southwest Michigan.
As part of the effort, the medical school’s WMed Health clinical practice at 1000 Oakland Drive in Kalamazoo has become the latest distribution site for free overdose prevention kits. The kits include two doses of naloxone, a pair of gloves, a mask for rescue breathing, and resource cards with information about treatment and harm reduction services.
The kit also includes a QR code that provides a video about how to recognize an overdose and how to use the naloxone properly.
Naloxone, also known as Narcan, is administered via a nasal spray and can provide a quick reversal of the effects of an opioid overdose.
At WMed Health, the kits are being stored in a repurposed newspaper box that is accessible to the public outside the main patient entrance on Oakland Drive.
So far, five of the naloxone distribution boxes have been installed at sites in Southwest Michigan, including Kellogg Community College in Battle Creek.
Nancy King from the Community Outreach Prevention and Education Network says her organization has distributed more than 20,000 Narcan kits throughout eight counties in Southwest Michigan since 2016, and she is hopeful that at least five more boxes will be installed at other locations in the coming weeks.
The distribution boxes are part of an Emergency Department Medication for Opioid Use Disorder project launched in 2022 with the help of more than $340,000 in grant funding from the Michigan Opioid Partnership and the Community Foundation for Southeast Michigan.
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