Lt. Col. Erik DeFreitas, assistant deputy commanderPharmacy DivisionEisenhower Army Medical Center
Big city. Little town. Nowhere in Georgia or the United States is immune to opioid abuses and deaths. That includes the Central Savannah River Area in general and, Fort Gordon specifically.
Fort Gordon’s Criminal Investigation Division is well aware of the problem. Special Agent Travis J. Brewer, assigned to the Department of the Army’s Criminal Investigation Division, Fort Gordon, realized he and members of his team were missing crucial piece of equipment to protect law enforcement and first responders: Narcan.
Thanks to Brewer’s efforts, Narcan is now available in Eisenhower Army Medical Center’s pharmacies. Here’s why:
According to the Georgia Department of Public Health, all drug overdose deaths in Georgia increased by 61.9 percent from 2019 to 2021. Opioids, specifically fentanyl, appear to be driving these increases. From 2019 to 2021, fentanyl-involved overdose deaths increased by 232.1 percent.
However, Narcan is a nasal spray device that delivers naloxone, a drug that can reverse opioid overdoses.
The DEA and the U.S. Department of Justice have released warnings for law enforcement officers stating that exposure to minute amounts of fentanyl, including simple skin contact, can cause overdose symptoms and health issues for law enforcement officers.
Fentanyl is a Schedule II controlled substance like morphine but about 100 times more potent.
Illicit fentanyl is primarily manufactured in foreign, clandestine labs and smuggled into the United States through Mexico. It is being distributed across the country and sold on the illegal drug market.
Fentanyl is being mixed in with other illicit drugs to increase the potency of the drug, sold as powders and nasal sprays. It is increasingly pressed into pills made to look like legitimate prescription opioids. According to the CDC, synthetic opioids, like fentanyl are the primary driver of more than 100,000 opioid overdose deaths in the United States in 2021.
Brewer coordinated with EAMC’s Department of Pharmacy to provide NARCAN kits to effectively respond to the dramatic increase of dangerous synthetic opioids, including fentanyl in the CSRA.
Narcan is available to all beneficiaries at EAMC and can be requested from any of Eisenhower’s pharmacy locations. It is recommended to request two Narcan kits, one for the vehicle and the second for the home.
Original source can be found here.
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