Organizations to supply Porter County cops with anti-OD drug

Multiple organizations announced an initiative to supply all Porter County law enforcement agencies with naloxone kits at Porter Regional Hospital on Friday.

Naloxone, also known as Narcan, is an opioid antagonist that reverses the effects of heroin and prescription drugs such as vicodin, oxycontin, percocet, and morphine, according to a news release.

Partner agencies include Empower Porter County, Fagen Pharmacy, the Portage Fire Department, the Porter County Community Foundation, the Porter County Coroner, Porter Regional Hospital and Porter Starke Services.

A donation from the Porter County Community Foundation supplied the 170 naloxone kits to law enforcement agencies in Porter County, said Heather Harrigan Hitz, executive director of Empower Porter County.

Porter County Community Foundation's Barb Young said about $9,000 was donated for the 170 additional kits.

“We thought it was an opportunity to save lives for a reasonable cost,” Young said.

Naloxone is administered by spraying the medicine in a person’s nose. The kits last about 18 months. When the kits expire, the supply will be replenished by Porter Regional Hospital.

Six lives have been saved this year in Porter County as the result of already existing naloxone kits, officials said.

Porter Regional Hospital EMS Medical Director Dr. David Cummins said he believes Porter County now has the largest supply of naloxone kits in Indiana.

Law enforcement officers are equipped with the kits, because they are often first on the scene when an overdose is reported. Jim Spanopoulos, a pharmacist at Fagen Pharmacy, said time is critical when trying to save someone who has overdosed on opiates.

“Nobody knows better than you guys what drug abuse really looks like on the streets,” Cummins told the law enforcement officials in attendance.

Naloxone kits were first introduced in Porter County in May 2014 by Portage Police Chief Troy Williams, said Portage Fire Chief Tom Feiffer. Williams equipped all Portage police supervisors with naloxone kits at the time. Porter County Sheriff’s Department Capt. George Gonzalez saw Portage’s initiative and believed the Sheriff’s Department should obtain naloxone kits. Sheriff’s deputies have been equipped with the kits since November 2014.

Feiffer said Dan Kodicek, assistant EMS chief for the Portage Fire Department, has trained law enforcement officers throughout the county to use the naloxone kits.

Law enforcement officers will undergo training on June 26 and 27. Immediately following training, they will be prepared to use the kits.

Young, of the Porter County Community Foundation, said the issue of opioid use is complex, because there are so many aspects to it.

She said equipping law enforcement agencies with naloxone kits is a good first step, but an ultimate goal is to get people who suffered an overdose into treatment.

“No one person, no one agency is going to solve this problem,” Young said.