Trinity Health Livingston hospital in Howell, Michigan, has put a vending machine in its lobby that dispenses Narcan free of charge.
Community members in Howell, in southeast Michigan, now have around-the-clock access to free Narcan nasal kits at their local hospital. Trinity Health Livingston hospital has installed in its lobby a vending machine that dispenses — at no cost
— boxes of the medication that can reverse opioid overdose. The public can access the machine 24 hours a day, seven days a week.
Trinity Health Livingston and the Livingston County Community Mental Health Authority collaborated on the installation of the vending machine. That government agency has been using a state grant given through the Community Mental Health Partnership of
Southeast Michigan to distribute Narcan boxes to the public. It gave out 1,500 boxes in the most recent fiscal year. The mental health agency is working with multiple organizations in addition to the hospital to install the vending machines throughout
the community.
According to a Trinity Health press release, Narcan — which is the brand name for naloxone — can save lives and can prevent brain damage by restoring normal respiration to people whose breathing has slowed or stopped due to opioid overdose.
When administered in a crisis, the drug can buy time for emergency medical care to reach the person. The medication has been shown to be effective in reversing the effects of heroin, morphine, oxycodone, methadone, fentanyl, hydrocodone, codeine,
hydromorphone, buprenorphine and other opioids.
Trinity Health's release says opioid overdose has claimed more than 50,000 lives annually nationwide, with more than 2,000 of those deaths happening in Michigan.