Brittany Ritter with the Lincoln County Preventing ATODS Abuse Coalition called into the Weekday Wake-Up on Tuesday, July 21 to discuss the signs of an opioid overdose and the Narcan treatment, which is available free of charge at pharmacies in Lincoln County.

(0:00) Brittany Ritter joins me live over the phone. Lincoln County Preventing ATODS Abuse Coalition. (0:05) Brittany, good morning.

How are you? Staying cool in Kemmer? (0:08) Good morning, Duke. Yeah, it’s not too shabby today. (0:11) Yeah, all right.

Perfect. Well, we appreciate your time. I’d like to touch base with you on a (0:15) quarterly basis.

And today, it sounds like you wanted to talk about opioids and some of the (0:21) dangers involved there, correct? That’s one of those things where it can be a really bad (0:27) problem to get into and really tough to get out. (0:32) Absolutely. So you are right.

I wanted to talk about opioid awareness and addressing (0:39) an overdose response. I’m sure most people are aware that we are seeing an increase in fentanyl (0:48) overdose deaths and incidents nationwide. Lincoln County is not excluded from this type of (0:56) situation.

And we are doing whatever we can to help raise awareness on the crisis and also (1:03) prevention when it comes to opioid abuse and overdose deaths. So a couple of things that I (1:09) want people to understand is Wyoming and many other states are covered under good Samaritan laws (1:16) so that we can act appropriately without any repercussion if we come upon somebody who we (1:24) has overdosed and we are intervening to help save their lives. A few of the signs that somebody may (1:33) have overdosed, obviously, they may have difficulty breathing.

They may be unresponsive. You may see (1:40) some slow, shallow, or even erratic breathing, possibly not breathing at all. Their pupils may (1:47) look very constricted or small.

You may hear different sounds like gurgling, kind of a snoring, (1:53) some people may be choking. Obviously, they could be unresponsive. You can, you know, (2:01) arouse them, pinch them, rub, you know, the sternal area, and they may not respond to that.

(2:07) And another sign that somebody may have overdosed is their skin may be pale, kind of clammy, (2:15) and they may start showing signs of cyanosis, especially on their fingertips or around their (2:21) lips. So if this were to happen and somebody sees somebody in this type of situation, (2:27) we are encouraging our people in Lincoln County to respond by administering a dose of Narcan. (2:35) And Narcan is an opioid reversal agent.

It is available at all of our Brolin’s pharmacies (2:41) and our Kimmer pharmacy free of cost to anybody who wants them. And we’re trying to get these (2:47) into the hands of all of our citizens in Lincoln County. You can put it in your purse.

You can (2:54) keep it in your medicine cabinet. You can throw it in your car, put it in your backpack. So if you (2:59) come across any types of these situations, you can administer Narcan.

The cool thing about Narcan (3:06) is even if you find somebody that is unresponsive and it’s not due to an opioid overdose and you (3:14) administer the Narcan, it’s not going to hurt them. It does no harm, but it could save their (3:19) life. Sometimes one dose of Narcan is not enough.

And so you do have to administer a second dose. (3:27) It’s very easy to use. It’s a nasal spray.

It’s similar to the nasal sprays that you get (3:35) over the counter. You just insert the cartridge into their nose, (3:43) press it, it administers right into their nares and works pretty darn effectively. (3:50) In addition to administering the Narcan, it’s also very important that we remind (3:55) ourselves to call 911 immediately and get help on the way.

(4:00) So Brittany, what actually is the Narcan? Because obviously we’re treating a potential (4:08) opioid overdose here. And so how does the Narcan work and what does it actually do? (4:13) Right. So Narcan, also known as Naloxone, is a medication that is an opioid reversal agent.

(4:21) So it reverses the effects of an opioid overdose. (4:27) Speaking with Brittany Ritter this morning, Lincoln County Preventing ATODS Abuse Coalition. (4:31) And again, those are free, it sounds like.

Basically any pharmacy in the county? (4:37) Yeah. Yeah. All of our Brolin’s pharmacies and the Kimmerer Pharmacy are participating.

(4:42) Anybody can go to those pharmacies, no questions asked, and get however many of those boxes of (4:49) Narcan that they can use. It does have a shelf life of about two years. So please (4:55) pay attention to that.

But please utilize that service. It’s something that we want (5:02) in the hands of everybody locally, because you never know when you may need to use it. (5:07) Brittany Ritter, Lincoln County Preventing ATODS Abuse Coalition.

Brittany, while I have you (5:11) kind of on this topic of opioids, a lot of times those that are struggling with opioid use, (5:18) a lot of times they would never touch another drug, but they get into the opioids for other (5:22) reasons. Maybe it was surgery and pain relief, whatever. It could be a million things.

(5:26) There are resources available to help people kick that habit, correct? (5:30) Yes. Yes. So nationally we have a helpline, which is 800-662-HELP.

But even a better option (5:41) is to utilize our services through High Country Behavioral Health. They have a medication-assisted (5:47) treatment program to help people that are struggling with opioid addiction. And they (5:53) can provide counseling services along with medication therapy prescribed from a provider (5:59) there at their center to help through the recovery process and remain sober from opioid use.

(6:07) Brittany Ritter, Lincoln County Preventing ATODS Abuse Coalition. This morning on the (6:10) Weekday Wake-Up. Brittany, thank you for your time and the information here.

Anything we (6:14) missed that you’d like to mention today? (6:17) I don’t think so. I think we’re good. It’s at the website, lincolncountyprevention.com, (6:24) if there’s any questions or need to get a hold of me.

(6:26) Perfect. Sounds great. It’s all part of the Weekday Wake-Up this morning on SVI Radio.