Fire departments receive Naloxone to help in fight against opioid epidemic

St. Francis County has received boxes of Naloxone that will be distributed to each fire department in the county. SFC Emergency Management Coordinator Zakk Jumper recently applied for and received over 160 doses of the drug that be distributed to rural and volunteer fire departments in the county. According to Jumper, the Arkansas Department of Emergency Management, in partnership with the Arkansas Opioid Recovery Project, began issuing Naloxone, also known as Narcan, to rural and volunteer fire departments through a grant-like application process. "Back in October, I got an email from ADEM, which is the Arkansas Department of Emergency Management, saying they were doing a Naloxone distribution for rural and volunteer fire departments," said Jumper. "It was pretty much a grant process, so I filled out some paperwork and sent that in." Jumper explained the county received 84 packages of Narcan with two doses per package for the volunteer departments in SFC. "We ended up with 84 Narcan packages for our county," said Jumper. "Each package comes with two doses of Narcan. What we are doing now is separating it out based on call volume and stuff like that for the volunteer departments. From this point, there shouldn't be any reason why any department in the county doesn't have Naloxone if they have a call for some type of drug overdose." According to Jumper, the Narcan is for patients, however, it could also be used to save the lives of responders who unknowingly come into contact with illegal substances. "It could not only be beneficial for who they are responding to assist, but it could also be beneficial for the responder," said Jumper. "This is because if they come into contact with some kind of drug that gives them a side effect, they can use it on themselves. That is why we are going to give them enough doses to use it on their patients or themselves. These are for the patients, not just the responders." Kendall Pettus, with the Monday Night Outreach program at the Oak Hill Church of God in Forrest City, explained that some of the addicts who attended the meetings were lost this year because Narcan was not available. "The opioid epidemic in Forrest City and St. Francis County is out of hand and I don't think the general public has any idea of how serious the opioid epidemic is," said Pettus. "The fact that we have Narcan that has been given to us is a tremendous blessing. I work with addicts on a regular basis. I usually have around 90 at my meetings on Monday nights. Some of those, I lost this year from drug overdoses because Narcan was not available. For us to get Narcan is really exciting for me." Monday Night Outreach is held each Monday at the William Witcher Ministry Center at Oak Hill Church of God in Forrest City. The program begins with a meal at 5:45 p.m., followed by a message at 6:45 p.m. Pettus said the meetings are only for addicts of all types, but they also help people deal with everything from loneliness to loss, so everyone is invited to attend.

Fire departments receive Naloxone to help in fight against opioid epidemic

Medication funded by grant through ADEM

QCourt approves resolution on FCMC non-profit status

Mayoral candidates take center stage at tonight’s political forum

McCoy facing challenge from Whitby for SFC Clerk

Brodie Johnson

Related Posts

QCourt approves resolution on FCMC non-profit status

Mayoral candidates take center stage at tonight’s political forum

McCoy facing challenge from Whitby for SFC Clerk

Candidates for county offices share ideas at public forum

Early morning fire in Forrest City

Ballot draw determines position on November ballot

Forrest City Medical Coat Drive

Woman killed in disturbance at church service

Recent Posts

Recent Comments

Archives

Categories

Recent Posts

Welcome Back!

Retrieve your password

Fire departments receive Naloxone to help in fight against opioid epidemic

Medication funded by grant through ADEM

RELATED POSTS

Membership Required

Related Posts

Recent Posts

Recent Comments

Archives

Categories

Recent Posts

Welcome Back!

Retrieve your password