SIDNEY — Shelby County Families of Addicts has announced a training session here in how to administer naloxone, the drug that reverses the effects of an opioid overdose.
The session is free and open to the public. It will be May 17, at 6:30 p.m., in the Sidney Salvation Army, 419 N. Buckeye Ave. The training takes about 35 minutes.
The training will be led by members of Miami County Public Health’s Project Dawn site. Project Dawn (Deaths Avoided with Naloxone) is a community-based overdose education and naloxone distribution program of the Ohio Department of Health.
“Naloxone saves lives,” said local Families of Addicts Director Cody Odom. “It’s not just about addicts: for instance, your grandmother, who took pain medication early and didn’t realize it and took more or children who accidentally eat pain meds thinking it’s candy.”
Participants receive training in recognizing the signs and symptoms of overdose, distinguishing between different types of overdoses, performing rescue breathing, calling emergency medical services and administering intranasal naloxone.
Odom said the Project Dawn program is another way his organization can provide resources to families.
“If they have an addict or someone in recovery who relapses, they can administer the naloxone,” he said. “I know addicts. Some of the most loving, compassionate people I know are addicts.”
The training session will include a video prepared by Project Dawn and completing paperwork. It does not include role-playing or hands-on activities.
Each person who completes the training will receive a free naloxone kit, containing one dose of the drug. Free refills are available, but only at the Troy health department office. The kits have been supplied by the Ohio Department of Health at a cost of about $75 per kit.
CVS and Walmart pharmacies in Sidney, Wapakoneta, Urbana and Greenville; Kroger pharmacies in Sidney, St. Marys, Urbana and Greenville; Walgreen’s pharmacies in Sidney and Greenville; and Rite Aid pharmacy in St. Marys sell naloxone without requiring a prescription.
According to the Ohio Department of Health website, “The program was named in honor of Leslie Dawn Cooper, a 34-year-old Ohio woman who struggled with addiction for years before passing away from an overdose in 2009. The first Project Dawn program was established in Leslie’s hometown of Portsmouth in 2012 through a grant from the Ohio Department of Health. As of April 2017, Ohio has 60 Project Dawn sites.” The Miami County Public Health department is one of them. So are the Allen County Public Health in Lima and the Crawford-Marion ADAMH Board in Marion.
“All Project Dawn programs provide kits free of charge to participants, some funded through the Ohio Department of Health, others funded through other sources,” said Russ Kennedy, Ohio Department of Health communications director. “In 2017, Project Dawn programs collectively dispensed 19,142 naloxone kits. Of these, 6,779, approximately 35 percent, were funded by ODH.”
Jordan Phillips, injury and prevention coordinator of Miami County Public Health and the Project Dawn trainer, said that the Troy office has been a Project Dawn site for a year.
“We’ve given out 304 (nalaxone) kits in that time,” she said. The Troy office will give free refills to anyone who has taken the training and used his initial kit, as long as supply lasts, she added. Miami County residency is not a requirement.
She has led training sessions for area businesses and for the Troy chapter of Families of Addicts. She also offers walk-in training every Tuesday at noon at the Miami County Public Health office, 510 W. Water St., Room No. 130, Troy.
“Getting people from Sidney to Troy was difficult because of scheduling. If (the training) is here, they have more access to it,” Odom said about why Families of Addicts planned the local session.
For information, call 937-570-0118.
