Narcan Nasal Spray.
By DANA HERNANDEZ
Sho-Ban News
FORT HALL — The Sho-Ban tribal Community Health Department is offering training on Naloxone, which is also known as Narcan. With the opioid crisis and drug epidemics that are happening within our communities, Narcan is a nasal spray that is administered when someone is believed to be having an overdose.
Narcan works specifically for any narcotic or prescription opioid overdose and doesn’t harm a patient who is not undergoing an overdose or is under the influence of other drugs like methamphetamines or cocaine, which Narcan doesn’t work for.
Community Health Educator, Tammie Scott, who conducts the Narcan training, says she attended a conference training with the Indian Health Service last fall and was impressed with the Narcan training.
Scott says, “My goal is to train all the tribal departments. Anyone can request a training, it is free, you don’t have to work for the tribes, and trainees will receive a certificate that they don’t have to worry about renewing.”
Scott is currently the only certified trainer of Narcan on the reservation and her trainings begin with a presentation, which shows what Narcan does to a person chemically. There is a questioning and answering portion followed along with a quiz. So far, three tribal departments have been fully certified to administer Narcan.
Scott also stated that anyone can purchase Narcan at any pharmacy and it’s sold in doses of two. Pharmacies accept insurance for Narcan, because without insurance the price range can be around $160.
Scott also stated that Narcan is safe to use with anyone, even pregnant women.
“It saves lives and we cannot be naïve to the nation-wide drug epidemic, it affects you, because it is everywhere. Overdosing is not bias, it’s in every class and age group,” she said.
She also stated that opioids are easily accessible and some misuse it, or someone can accidently misread their prescribed dosage and overdose. “There is now Fentanyl, which anyone can now manufacture and has quadrupled in abuse within the last four years,” says Scott. Fentanyl has been known to be circulating within the heroine drug distribution.
There is a collaboration with the police and the Drug Enforcement Agency to have drop-off boxes for any unused prescriptions, including antibiotics. Fort Hall’s drop-off box is located at the Justice Center. In October and April, they have incentives for people who use the drop-off boxes. Neighboring towns also have drop-off boxes and are located at Walgreens and the Blackfoot Police Department.
Prescription drop box located at the Sho-Ban Tribes Justice
Center.
Scott says there are two epidemics that are most important right now and that is suicide and opioids. There are other tribal departments within the Shoshone-Bannock Tribes who are aware of these and are working to prevent these epidemics from rising.
“Everyone at Tribal Health, Four Directions, and Family and Counseling Services are working on ways to prevent these epidemics,” says Scott.