Goals of project:
- Demonstrate that expanding Narcan® Nasal Spray distribution from all access points to ALL individuals at risk of experiencing or witnessing an opioid overdose in the Greater Cincinnati area will significantly reduce the number of opioid-related deaths.
- Rapidly and substantially increase distribution of Narcan® Nasal Spray throughout the community.
- Reduce the number of fatal overdoses and those resulting in intensive care unit (ICU) admission.
- Identify sustainable and effective distribution programs for Narcan®
Initial steps taken involved building a collaborative within our region that involved local health systems, treatment providers, first responders, and other non-profits. Staff were then hired to work at Hamilton County Public Health and facilitate continued partnership building and overall distribution efforts.
Narcan® access points and distribution programs were identified and steps were taken to work with partners to implement distribution strategies.
Data collected during the process was reviewed regularly to ensure effectiveness of ongoing efforts and distributions.
The overall time frame of the program was 10/01/2017 - 10/31/2019. This was the length of the grant, but the overall efforts and distribution strategies that started with the NDC will be continued through Hamilton County Public Health using a smaller inventory of Narcan®.
Stakeholders and their roles were:
- University of Cincinnati
- Providing data collection and analysis
- Adapt Pharmaceutical
- Provided Narcan® and funding for program
- Looking for evidence that wide spread distribution can have positive impact on overdose deaths
- Foundation of Recovery
- Grant coordination and Narcan® distribution
- UC Health
- Funding and distribution through EDs
- Mercy Health
- Funding and distribution through EDs
- The Christ Hospital
- Funding and distribution through EDs
- TriHealth
- Funding and distribution through EDs
- Cincinnati Children's Hospital Medical Center
- Funding and distribution through EDs
- Deaconess Associations Foundation
- Interact for Health
- Hamilton County Sheriff
- Partnership in distribution
- Hamilton County Heroin Coalition – Board of County Commissioners
Monthly meetings were held for all stakeholders to attend to discuss ongoing efforts, data collected, and any improvements or new initiatives. As the collaborative moved forward, new partners were brought in as interest in obtaining Narcan® grew in the region and new areas of need were identified.
Hamilton County Public Health and the Narcan Distribution Collaborative participated in many local community events in order to help build a strong relationship with the community at large. Trainings, outreach, and Narcan distributions took place at sporting events, health fairs, community festivals, local council meetings, religious based groups, and many other community oriented locations and events. A strong partnership was formed by bringing training, support, and resources to places where it would have the most impact.
Startup funding for the project was approximately $825,000 and was provided by the partners listed above. This funding was used to hire staff to handle distribution, outreach, trainings, and overall program management. As stated previously, Narcan was provided through Adapt Pharmaceutical to HCPH. By working with the major health care systems as well as non-profit organizations in the region, enough funding was brought in to eliminate the need for public tax dollars.