GEORGETOWN—In a sign of the times, Williamson County has begun keeping a lifesaving drug on hand to counter the effects of opioids, such as Fentanyl.
Since November, the county has been keeping Narcan, an anti-overdose drug also called naloxone, with automated external defibrillators (AEDs) that are located in all Williamson County buildings.
“We want Narcan to be more accessible to the public, so we started with our own public government buildings,” said Amy Jarosek, the county’s captain for the Community Health Paramedic program, which initiated the project. “We thought that government buildings might be a place where people think to go to for help.”
Narcan is an opioid overdose reversal medication that is used for the treatment of a known or suspected opioid overdose. The medication installed in county buildings is administered through a nasal spray instead of through an injection, so there is no needle. The medication is not harmful if the person is not suffering from an opioid-related overdose.
According to an article in the September issue of the East Wilco Insider, fentanyl is the leading killer of Americans 18 to 45 years old and is 100 times stronger than morphine and 50 times more potent than heroine.
In Taylor, this initiative to store Narcan in county buildings includes the EMS station at 1427 N. Main St. as well as other locations.
“Our first co-location was at the Taylor Expo Center in preparation for the rodeo event,” Jarosek said. “We have also placed it in the Taylor Annex, JP4 office, and the Health District within Taylor.”
Jarosek said that the Narcan is available for public access.
“Anyone who may come into a county building, or anywhere it is placed in the future, can access the Narcan and provide it,” Jarosek said.
In addition, the Community Health Paramedics have partnered with Bluebonnet Trails Community Services to follow up with people seen by EMS who have suffered an overdose. They discovered that people did not know how or where to access Narcan.
As the county’s mental health authority, Bluebonnet Trails is supplying the Narcan through a grant. At the beginning of November, 63 boxes of Narcan were deployed to county buildings. The medicine is kept with the AEDs to make it easy to find. Bluebonnet Trails also has Narcan available through their clinics.
“This lifesaving partnership with EMS ensures help is available at the time it is most needed, said Andrea Richardson, the chief executive officer for Bluebonnet Trails. “The followup care enhances support for persons seeking recovery by connecting them with information and resources,”
Reporters Edie Zuvanich and Nicole Lessin contributed to this report.
