Capital Blue Cross gives $100,000 so police may buy Naloxone heroin-overdose drug
The money will be distributed by the Pennsylvania District Attorney’s Association throughout the 21 counties that Capital Blue
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Capital Blue Cross will provide a second round of funding to help put a life-saving overdose antidote into the hands of Pennsylvania police officers by donating $100,000 to help local and campus police departments purchase Naloxone.
Naloxone works by blocking the opioid receptors in the brain. It can temporarily restore breathing in an overdose patient and is administered by being sprayed into each nostril. In 2014, the company donated $50,000 to help police departments purchase the drug.
Pennsylvania Department of Drug and Alcohol Programs Secretary Gary Tennis called the heroin/opioid overdose epidemic the worst the state has ever seen. "On behalf of all the people whose lives will be saved by this generous donation, I thank Capital BlueCross. ..." said Sect. Gary Tennis, Dept. of Drug and Alcohol Programs. "With this money, we have the potential to help not only hundreds of people with the disease of addiction, but the thousands of family members and friends whose lives are also affected."
[Also: FDA approves Narcan nasal spray for opioid overdoses, hopes for wider, safer use]
According to Capital BlueCross, the money will be distributed by the PA District Attorney's Association throughout the 21 counties that Capital Blue serves. It will allow departments to buy the medication, so that officers can carry and administer it in potentially fatal overdose emergencies.
According to the Pennsylvania Department of Drug and Alcohol Programs, officers carrying naloxone in Pennsylvania have saved more than 500 people in the past year.
"Naloxone is a safe and effective drug that reverses the potentially fatal effects of drug overdose as we have seen in communities across Pennsylvania," said Pennsylvania Physician General Dr. Rachel Levine.
Twitter: @BethJSanborn
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