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Aug 25, 2023

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This Naloxone vending machine is at the Tulsa Day Center. Others are being placed at turnpike travel centers and in areas with high numbers of overdoses. Free Naloxone and Fentanyl test strips are

This Naloxone vending machine is at the Tulsa Day Center. Others are being placed at turnpike travel centers and in areas with high numbers of overdoses.

Free Naloxone and Fentanyl test strips are available in this vending machine at the Tulsa Day Center.

Tulsa World Capitol Bureau Staff Writer

OKLAHOMA CITY — Vending machines are being installed across the state to provide free products to combat opioid overdoses.

“Accidental overdose is the leading cause of death in the United States for those 18-50 years old,” said Oklahoma Department of Mental Health and Substance Abuse Services Commissioner Carrie Slatton-Hodges.

The first machine was installed at the Tulsa Day Center, said Bonnie Campo, Oklahoma Department of Mental Health and Substance Abuse Services senior director of public relations.

The machines provide free Naloxone and Fentanyl test strips. Consumers need only to enter a ZIP code to access the products, Campo said.

Naloxone is an opioid antagonist used to reverse and block the effects of the drug. Fentanyl test strips can detect the presence of the drug in various substances.

“Fentanyl is 50 times more powerful than heroine and 100 times more powerful than morphine,” Campo said.

It is cheap, and it is often mixed with other drugs without the users’ knowledge, she added.

“People think they are taking something, but they are not,” she said.

“If someone is having an overdose, Naloxone works like an inhaler, but you put it to the nose and spray the medicine into the nasal pathways,” Campo said. “It temporarily revives the individual until first responders arrive, as long as the overdose was related to an opioid.”

The Oklahoma Turnpike Authority recently added Naloxone and Fentanyl test strips to the first aid kits of more than 350 agency maintenance and construction vehicles due to the potential for workers to be exposed to the substances when working crash sites.

Also, “offering this potentially life-saving resource for anyone in need at our service plazas is just another way our agency can contribute to the safety of our patrons,” said OTA Deputy Director Joe Echelle. “We greatly appreciate the Oklahoma Department of Mental Health and Substance Abuse Services’ initiative to provide these materials and the training to help us protect our employees and better serve the traveling public.”

The department used federal grant dollars to pay for the vending machines and a media campaign that includes billboards, digital ads, bus benches and television ads, Campo said.

The vending machines are also being placed at seven of the state’s busiest travel centers along turnpikes, and 40 machines will be placed in strategic ZIP code locations where overdose prevalence is high.

Two vending machines will be located at the Will Rogers Turnpike service plaza in Vinita.

The OTA intends to offer the products to travelers at more locations by the end of the year on turnpikes in eastern and southwestern Oklahoma.

Purchased at a pharmacy with insurance, Naloxone costs about $40, which can be a barrier to people who need it, Campo said. The vending machines will provide access to the product for those who can’t afford it, she said.

Each machine will be stocked with about 100 boxes of Naloxone, and each box comes with two doses, she said.

A full list of locations and resources can be found at okimready.org. Oklahomans also can use the site to order free Naloxone and Fentanyl test strip kits.

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Dr. Chris McNeil joins the podcast this week to explain that, in his opinion, because of a poor medical recruiting system, we are losing lives, talent and time. McNeil is the only Black male resident emergency physician in Tulsa, and starting July 1, he'll be the only one in the state. He has ideas on how and why that needs to change.

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The Cherokee Nation will launch a Harm Reduction Mobile Van to provide syringe services, wound care supplies, opioid overdose reversal medication and services at no cost to tribal and nontribal citizens 18 years old and older within the tribe’s reservation.

The kickoff will be at 9 a.m. Thursday in the Cherokee Nation's Vinita Health Center parking lot at 27371 S. 4410 Road in Vinita.

The van will start in Vinita and move to more communities later.

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Tulsa World Capitol Bureau Staff Writer

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