MUNCIE, Ind. — Efforts to prevent fatal overdoses in the Muncie area are expanding.
Officials at IU Health Ball Memorial Hospital announced in recent days it will be the recipient of one of 19 naloxone vending machines being distributed statewide.
The machine — containing up to 300 naloxone kits, which are offered at no charge — will be installed in the waiting area outside the hospital’s emergency department.
Naloxone — also known as Narcan — is a medication used to reverse the effects of opioid ingestion leading to an overdose.
More:Local officials see naloxone saving lives. The Muncie community wants to help save more.
Each kit in the vending machine contains “a single dose of naloxone, instructions for use, and resource information on treatments for substance use disorder.”
“The machine gives our community zero-barrier access to a medication that could mean the difference between life and death,” Ryan Brown, the medical director for IU Health East Central Region Addiction Medicine, said in a release.
Muncie Folk — a “local harm reduction initiative,” according to a release — in recent months has installed three “NaloxBoxes” locally, with plans for more.
The boxes offer 24/7 access to naloxone. Each box holds 10 to 15 doses of the medication at one time.
Muncie Folk personnel stock the three boxes — at Avondale United Methodist Church, 1410 W, 10th St.; Friends Memorial Church, at Cherry and Adams streets, and at the Robert Johnson Cooling Center, 115 S. Pershing Drive — twice daily.
As a result of those efforts, nearly 800 doses of naloxone are being distributed in the Muncie Community monthly.
Muncie Folks advocates have said they hoped with the boxes, along with “ongoing advocacy, education, harm reduction, and access to services, the normalization of access to this overdose reversal tool will reduce the stigma often associated with overdose.”
Overdose Lifeline, an Indiana nonprofit, and the Governor’s Office and Division of Mental Health and Addiction, have helped fund the overdose prevention efforts.
Douglas Walker is a news reporter at The Star Press. Contact him at 765-213-5851 or at dwalker@muncie.gannett.com.