A lifesaving drug to counter the effects of heroin and prescription painkiller overdoses will be put into the first-aid kits of police cars across the Lehigh Valley thanks to the generosity of a health insurance company and a new state law.
Capital BlueCross will provide funding to allow police departments to buy doses of prescription drug Naloxone, which has been used successfully in ambulances and emergency rooms for decades.
“It’s an act of unprecedented compassion for those who are suffering with this disease and I really want to thank [Capital BlueCross],” said Gary Tennis, the secretary of the Pennsylvania Department of Drug and Alcohol Programs, who helped announce the program during a news conference Monday in the Whitehall Township Public Works Building.
The initiative will be administered by the Pennsylvania District Attorneys Association, which will supply the Naloxone kits to participating police departments in the 21 counties Capital BlueCross serves, which includes Lehigh, Northampton, Berks and Schuylkill counties.
In Lehigh County, the Lehigh Valley Health Network has agreed to provide a grant through the Dorothy Rider Pool Healthcare Trust to train police officers in the proper administering of the drug, said District Attorney Jim Martin.
“I really can’t express enough my appreciation for Capital BlueCross for what you’re doing,” Martin said. “In Lehigh County, through August, we have had 46 overdose deaths, through either prescription drugs or heroin. So it’s a severe problem and anything we can do to help solve it will certainly be worthwhile for our communities and those who struggle with this disease.”
The initiative would not have been possible without a new state law that went into effect less than a month ago. Act 139 allows Naloxone to be prescribed to a third party, such as a friend or family member, and also allows police and firefighters to administer the drug without risk of liability.
Those who are not health professionals were not legally permitted to administer the drug before the new law took effect on Nov. 29.
The drug works by blocking opiate receptors in the brain, reversing the effects of opiate drugs such as heroin and certain painkillers, and restoring an overdosing patient’s breathing within minutes.
“We saw an opportunity, especially with Act 139 recently being passed, that allows officers to provide this life-saving treatment without fear of liability,” said Aji Abraham, senior vice president of business development for Capital BlueCross.
“These officers are really on the front lines and are usually the first people there when somebody overdoses.
“At the end of the day, if one life is saved as a result of this program … then it’s all been worthwhile.”
The drug can be administered with injection pens or a nasal mist, though Martin said the kits offered to police will have the nasal mist.
The state drug and alcohol department estimates that eight Pennsylvanians die of heroin or prescription painkiller overdoses every day, Tennis said. One out of four families is affected by drug addiction, he added.
Tennis urged family members and friends of those addicted to heroin or prescription painkillers to get a prescription from their doctor for Naloxone, which in some cases is covered by health insurance.
Tennis cited a pilot program in Quincy, Mass., a city of 100,000 people, in which police were provided with Naloxone dosing kits. In three years, police reversed 169 overdoses, he said.
“Naloxone we know is effective in reversing overdoses,” Tennis said. “It has no bad side effects. It is a wonderful thing to have in our communities.”
He called Capital BlueCross’ contribution an act of “extreme corporate responsibility.”
Date: December 23, 2014