Soup kitchen installs 24-hour Narcan stand to combat massive spike in opioid deaths

A soup kitchen in Saginaw County, Michigan, has teamed up with a local nonprofit to install a Narcan stand outside that is available 24 hours a day, seven days a week.

WNEM reported on the new Narcan stand, which provides the name-brand version of naxolone, a medication that quickly reverses an overdose by blocking the effects of opioids.

The East Side Soup Kitchen worked in conjunction with TEN16 Recovery network, a nonprofit offering addiction treatment and recovery support services across central Michigan.

The stand is reportedly next to another food provider called the Blessing Barn, which provides non-perishable food items when the soup kitchen is closed.

According to Michigan.gov, annual opioid deaths in the state have skyrocketed in the last 20 years. In 2000, Michigan saw just 183 opioid-related deaths, but by 2017 that number had ballooned to 1,941. Over the same time period, overall overdose deaths increased from 581 to 2,729.

A Narcan vending machine was recently opened in Brooklyn, New York, which reports categorized as a success. The machine, installed in early June 2022, dispensed over 100 Narcan kits in just the first week of operation, according to CBS News. The medical supplies are restocked daily, the report noted.

"We all know people who would be alive today if a machine like this had existed," said Rebecca Linn-Walton, chief strategy officer for Services for the Underserved, a company that attempts to find housing for the homeless.

"Whether we're working with someone who winds up dying of an infection because they couldn't access free wound care to someone who overdoses because they couldn't get free, easy access to Narcan," she added

A team of YouTubers assisted in a very public rescue of an opioid overdose victim days earlier in a San Francisco apartment building.

The crew's cameraman helped administer CPR to a woman, who was barely breathing, while two hosts called first responders. Firemen arrived on the scene and administered Narcan to the individual, who was then assisted into an ambulance.

When contacted to verify the fact of the incident, the San Francisco Fire Department informed TheBlaze that there had been four emergency calls for overdoses at the same complex within just the last week.

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