EMS Agency visits Direct Relief to fight opioid epidemic
GOLETA, Calif. - Direct Relief is stepping up its efforts to fight the opioid epidemic this year.
"Direct Relief in 2017 started its naloxone program which started out as a commitment to provide 1 million doses of naloxone across the country," said spokesperson Brea Burkholz of Direct Relief.
The California Department of Public Health confirmed nearly 6,000 opioid-related overdose deaths in 2021.
But since the pandemic, the Direct Relief team says the use of fentanyl has skyrocketed across the country.
“And so we want to make sure that we are not only providing that support across the country, but also here in our office in the event, that if something were to happen on site," said Burkholz.
This year alone, the Direct relief headquarters hosted local, national and international seminars bringing a high volume of foot traffic, sometimes hundreds in a week.
So the Santa Barbara County Health Department and the Emergency Medical Services Agency provided the organization with an intense Naloxone training session.
"The main focus here is in the building they’ve deployed the lock boxes which are ready to go Narcan on the wall," said EMS systems specialist Jason Levy of the Santa Barbara County Public Health Department. "If there is an opioid related incident, their staff is trained to know how to respond and be part of the continuum of care for that patient from the time of recognizing the symptoms to moving on that patient to the hospital."
County Public Health hopes the public learns more about signs and symptoms of potential drug overdose.
"I think it went really well. I was told there’s about 60 staff members and more joining online who have received training and education and know how to respond to an opioid related incident," said Levy.
"So in the event that there is an incident on site this has really helped our staff to be able to learn how to best use those boxes that we now have next to our AED machines," said Burkholz.
Direct Relief plans to send more doses of Naloxone to heath care centers, free clinics, public health departments, and schools across the United States for years to come.
