PORT ANGELES — With 17 overdose reversals reported since July, the Clallam County Health Department is looking for a new supply of life-saving naloxone.
Public health officials received 200 cartons of the opioid overdose antidote last year through a pair of grants from Kaléo, a Virginia pharmaceutical company.
The naloxone auto injectors are being distributed to self-reported drug users through the county’s syringe exchange program.
The health department has 33 cartons remaining, Public Health Program Manager Christina Hurst told the county Board of Health on Tuesday.
“In 2015, we had 14 overdose reversals from our exchange population,” Hurst said.
“And then we’ve had three in 2016.”
Blocks effects of heroin
Naloxone is an opioid antagonist that temporarily blocks the effects of heroin or opioid-based prescription pills.
It saves lives by allowing a patent to breathe long enough for medical help to arrive.
Public health officials are preparing to order a new batch of naloxone administered as a nasal spray.
The spray costs $74.50 per two-dose box compared to about $300 for a two-dose auto injector.
“It’s like a nasal spray for a cold,” Hurst said. “It’s really simple to use.”
Port Angeles police say they have saved an additional 13 lives since officers began carrying naloxone last spring.
Interim Police Chief Brian Smith said there were five naloxone “saves” in one week alone in March.
The department has its own source of naloxone.
It received two 64-carton batches of naloxone auto injectors from Kaléo last year and will seek the less expensive nasal spray unless the grant is renewed, Smith has said.
Clallam County commissioners budgeted $20,000 this year to purchase naloxone for the health department.
“I’d really like to explore the option of Serenity House keeping some, and the homeless shelters keeping some, Salvation Army having a few doses on hand, people that are working with that population, chemical dependency providers, maybe keeping a dose on hand,” Hurst said.
Local epidemic
County public health and law and justice officials have described the heroin problem as a local epidemic.
Commissioners last week restored a sergeant’s position in the sheriff’s office to help the Olympic Peninsula Narcotics Enforcement Team do a better job catching mid- and upper-level drug dealers.
Last year, the Clallam County Board of Health made opioid overdoses a reportable condition.
Dr. Christopher Frank, Clallam County health officer, will present a six-month review of overdose data in July.
County Commissioner Mike Chapman, who also serves on the Board of Health, told Hurst to alert commissioners if the $20,000 budgeted for naloxone runs out.
“A $74 investment saves thousands, potentially tens of thousands, and lives,” Chapman said, referring to the cost of emergency room visits and intensive care unit stays.
“That’s a pretty good investment.”
Nasal spray
In addition to the nasal spray, the health department has secured 50 kits of injectable naloxone from the University of Washington’s Alcohol and Drug Abuse Institute, Hurst said.
The injectable kits will be distributed to housing providers, drug counselors and other professionals who are likely to encounter an overdose.
“It’s very scary that we have the amount of [overdose] reports that we have,” Hurst said.
She added that the naloxone program has resulted in more contacts at the syringe exchange.
“I see that as a very positive action,” Hurst said.
“We want to also intervene and break that cycle of addiction in other ways, but this is one way. That aha moment of ‘Oh my gosh, I just almost died’ sometimes is an eye-opener for some folks.”
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Reporter Rob Ollikainen can be reached at 360-452-2345, ext. 56450, or at rollikainen@peninsuladailynews.com.
