Pomona hospital offering free Narcan - drug that can reverse opioid overdose
POMONA, Calif. (KABC) -- Patients at Pomona Valley Hospital Medical Center may notice a new addition outside the emergency room: a Narcan distribution box.
Naloxone, known by the brand name Narcan, can reverse a drug overdose if given promptly.
"It directly effects the receptors in your body for opioids," said Sherrie Cisneros, a substance use nurse navigator at Pomona Valley Medical Center. "It pushes them out and then naloxone reverses the opioid, and the patient wakes up."
Cisneros works with patients at the medical center's substance use disorder program, which provides emergency medical care, community education, prevention tools, resources and referrals to those undergoing treatment for substance abuse. She says anyone can fall prey to an overdose.
"We recommend everybody that is high risk for overdose to have one in their medicine cabinet," Cisneros said. "Even somebody who takes prescription opioid for a post-surgery or if prescribed, you're still at risk for overdose."
PVHMC is one of a handful of hospitals to install a naloxone distribution box, providing the medication to the public for free.
"This is a great opportunity to have it accessible to the community... They can just come up to the box, grab a Narcan, no questions asked and be on their way," said Cisneros.
More than 100,000 lives are lost each year to overdose, according to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. Narcan can be used to reverse both illegal and legal drug overdoses.
"Regardless of why the person is doing it, whatever reason, we just want to make sure they're safe and they don't end up in the emergency room," Cisneros said.
Alongside the free boxes of Narcan are fentanyl test strips that can test for the presence of the powerful synthetic opioid.
"We recommend they take a fentanyl test strip even if they do other drugs," Cisneros said. "That way they know what they are putting in their body and if they are at high risk for overdose."
