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SALT LAKE CITY — A naloxone pilot program authorized by the state Legislature has helped save 46 lives since the start of 2017, the Utah Department of Health reports.
The program, passed by state legislators in 2016, freed up about $236,000 for the Department of Health to distribute to a variety of agencies around the state for the purposes of purchasing kits of naloxone, a drug that can be applied nasally and quickly reverse the effects of a severe opioid overdose.
"We're grateful for the Utah Legislature for really paying attention to this issue," said Angela Stander, prescription drug overdose prevention coordinator for the Utah Department of Health. "It was really important that we had this funding and that we got it to the right agencies."
In all, 32 government and nonprofit entities distributed about 3,111 naloxone kits with that money, spreading them out into the hands of 1,599 people who would be responsible for administering the drug in an emergency, health department spokeswoman Jenny Johnson said Thursday. In all, those agencies have reported 46 opioid overdose reversals since Jan. 1.
"Dissemination is huge in implementing a program such as this," Stander said. "We're getting it into the right hands."
Other distribution of naloxone statewide that hasn't resulted from the pilot initiative is also believed to have saved 25 additional lives since the start of the year, according to other reporting to the state from organizations outside the program. Those organizations distributed nearly 1,200 naloxone kits to almost 650 people who would be ready to put them to use in an emergency.
Organizations that the naloxone funding was sent to include police agencies, county and regional health departments, and nonprofits such as rehabilitation centers, Stander said. Some entities that received that funding further distributed naloxone kits to other groups within their jurisdiction or in their area, she said. She praised "the unique approach that everyone took to it."
"For example, Salt Lake County (health officials) felt they should put them in all their libraries," Stander said.
The tool has strong supporters with both the Unified and Salt Lake police departments, which have lauded it as the difference between life and death for the people their officers administer it to.
"You take this number of saves that we've had — the proof is in the pudding," said Unified Police Lt. Brian Lorhke.
While Unified police are not one of the organizations that is part of the state pilot program, Lohrke said the Salt Lake County District Attorney's Office has helped fund the agency's use of the drug. He said it is a comfort to officers to know they can immediately render aid to a person who has overdosed if police are the first emergency workers on scene.
"If we get there and this person is overdosing in front of us, dying in front of us, now we have some other type of intervention before other medical personnel can get there," he said. "That usually doesn't sit well with officers to just sit and wait. ... That's not a good feeling."
Lohrke said he and others at Unified police have been "actually very surprised" at how easy it is to both train for using the naloxone and putting it to the test in an emergency. The agency's officers were equipped with the tool in January.
"That was the reaction that came back (from officers) was how easy it was to use," he said. "I know there was a lot of fear and hesitation among our crews, but I think that was quelled within the first couple weeks."
Salt Lake police detective Richard Chipping agreed that distributing naloxone resulted in saved lives and has been easy to use.
"Obviously, in deploying that kind of thing, it is designed to be very dummy proof — very easy to use, especially under stress," Chipping said.
Salt Lake police officers have undergone a full day of training on how to both administer the naloxone and how to recognize the right situation in which to do so, Chipping said. He added that the drug also provides some peace of mind for officers who are at risk of contact with drugs like fentanyl, which can be deadly to the touch.
"There's the concern with some of these drugs out there that are so strong," Chipping said. "Having those (kits) on hand allows us to do a little self-aid, too."
Utah has the seventh-highest rate of opioid abuse in the United States, according to Stander. Lohrke said that while he's grateful for the life-saving tool, he is well aware that more needs to be done to stop the problem of opioid addiction before it becomes a life-threatening emergency.
"We do need to look at root cause of this opioid crisis and figure out what we need to do as a state, as communities to really scale it back," the lieutenant said.
Stander agreed that communities can't be satisfied with simply saving a person from overdose at the last moment "so we're not just band-aiding it." The person saved is "going to need a lot more help than you simply reversing that overdose," she said, and follow up with some kind of addiction treatment is critical.
Even if a person has managed to avoid addiction, Stander said, he or she can be at risk for an accidental opioid overdose under certain conditions, such as when taking other medicines with their painkillers.
"Even if they're using it as directed, there's still a chance for overdose," she said.
Stander recommended that people taking a heavy dose of opioids for their pain purchase naloxone from a pharmacy. The drug does not carry the risk of abuse, according to the Department of Health.
