Carbon County Sheriff Jeff Wood, his Department and other local law enforcement officers recently obtained Naloxone Training which has been a growing trend around the country and in the state. It’s unfortunate that our very own Carbon county is ranked one of the highest in the state for opioid addiction/abuse so it comes as a relief that now both our county and city officers received the much needed training.

Naloxone is a safe, non-narcotic drug that has been used in emergency rooms for decades and can reverse opioid overdoses in just minutes. “The training was pretty easy I was impressed. There was a Dr. Plumb who is a lady whose brother overdosed from opioids years ago and it actually inspired her to become a doctor. She came down and did the training, it took less than an hour. It’s very simple, what we are carrying is a nasal injection,” said Wood.

Dr. Jennifer Plumb is currently an Assistant Professor of Pediatrics at the University of Utah and an emergency room pediatrician in Utah who has used Naloxone many times to save people from an overdose. In her case, it’s often young children who have gotten into their parent’s drugs. It was a unique opportunity to have her visit our area to conduct the training.

There are many times that law enforcement officers are first to arrive on the scene of an overdose so to have the necessary training and the tool can make a difference when it matters most.  “With our community partners and our local law enforcement team have come up with a way to fund Naloxone to each officer in the county, not just the Sheriff Office but the city agencies as well, so we will be carrying Naloxone with us. Naloxone is that drug for folks that are struggling with opioid addiction that have overdosed and they call it a miracle drug but it’s not 100 percent affective but it is a good tool,” stated Wood.

Families can now get a sense of relief as Wood explained further, “For families that have a family member that is struggling opioid addiction and abuse, you too can have a kit that you can carry on you. You can get that at Four Corners Mental Health, they have some available to give away and they have prescriptions that you can just take to the pharmacy and have it filled. So if you have a family member that you are afraid that might overdose you can have your own kit so if you find them you can help them out.”

To learn more about Naloxone visit http://www.utahnaloxone.org/