Pubdate: Sat, 28 Mar 2015
Source: Standard-Speaker (Hazleton, PA)
Copyright: 2015 The Standard-Speaker
Contact:  http://www.standardspeaker.com
Details: http://www.mapinc.org/media/1085
Author: Amy Marchiano

POLICE ASSOCIATION LEARNS ABOUT NALOXONE USE FOR OVERDOSES

POTTSVILLE -- The Schuylkill County Police Chiefs Association learned
more about naloxone at its monthly meeting March 18 at the courthouse.

County Coroner Dr. David Moylan III said the drug can provide a second
chance to those who overdose. The drug blocks the effects of heroin
and opiates on the brain.

"Everyone in the law enforcement field knows there is an epidemic out
there: drug overdoses," he said.

Moylan did not have an updated number of how many people in Schuylkill
County died from drug overdoses. According to the Centers for Disease
Control and Prevention, heroin deaths have gone up 39 percent from
2012 to 2013, the most recent data available.

Moylan said naloxone is fast-acting, restoring a person's ability to
breathe in as little as two to five minutes.

"It's the magic bullet. There are no side effects of the drug itself,"
Moylan said.

Minersville police Chief Michael Combs, president of the association,
asked how close the county is to possibly using naloxone.

Moylan said the funding has to be in place.

District Attorney Christine Holman said more information is needed on
the topic and police must also have training, adding that all the
details have yet to be worked out.

Holman said she will invite Michelle Denk, executive director of the
Pennsylvania Association of County Drug and Alcohol Administrators, to
attend the April 23 meeting.

Capital Blue Cross, along with the Pennsylvania District Attorneys
Association, is providing funding in its 21-county coverage area for a
rescue kit that contains naloxone and an atomizer, a device to
administer the drug through nasal spray, which will be used to reverse
an overdose on prescription pain medicine or heroin.

The passage of Act 139 by Gov. Tom Corbett in September 2014 permits
police and others to administer the drug without fear of prosecution
and provides immunity when applicable. Costs for the kits could be
about $52.

Animal shelter

In other matters, Barb Umlauf, Hillside SPCA director, and Janine
Choplick, humane officer with the shelter, spoke at the meeting about
the SPCA. Umlauf said the shelter runs on donations and any help the
police can provide is appreciated.

"Last year, we received over 2,000 animals," she said.
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MAP posted-by: Matt