Woman’s Voice: The Lenawee Substance Abuse Prevention Coalition is a diverse group of dedicated community members united around the goal of reducing substance use in Lenawee County. LSAPC members work collaboratively to engage and educate the community in order to promote a healthy Lenawee.
Kathy Williams: I’m Kathy Williams. And with me on tonight’s program is Kellie Niese. And Kellie is the program manager for Pathways Engagement Center and she’s also the recovery coordinator with the HRSA grant. Kellie, one of the things we want to talk about tonight, though is about Naloxone. Can you tell us what is Naloxone? How does it work? And why would we need it?
Kellie Niese: Okay, well those are all good questions. So, Naloxone is the long name for Narcan basically. And so some folks might be more familiar with Narcan in the sense that it is used by First Responders and every day folks to reverse an opiate overdose.
Kathy Williams: Okay.
Kellie Niese: Narcan you can get by prescription from your provider, but all these grants now in our community are funding free community education and distribution of Narcan. And Pathways Engagement Center peers are trained to do that education, and we also are providing people with free Narcan kits. So why would you need Narcan? Some people have an image in their head that it’s just for heroin use or people that overdose on illicit drugs. But actually, anyone that has prescribed opiates should probably have Narcan in their home. Even if you’ve taken a steady dose for years, sometimes your health condition can change and a normal dose can all of a sudden be metabolized differently.
Kathy Williams: Okay.
Kellie Niese: And you can have an oversensitive reaction. So having someone trained in how to use Narcan and having Narcan on hand can literally save a loved one’s life. Also, if you have it in your home and you have kids or anyone coming to visit, one of the number one ways people use drugs and kids use drugs is they find them in medicine cabinets. And so, if you have opiates in your home, or you have teenagers in your home, having Narcan on hand can save a life. And so what a great opportunity we have that we have this in our community that you can come by Pathways and get some free education and get a free kit. And we’ll also be doing Narcan education and distribution in the community. Our first event is August 31st in downtown Adrian at the Farmers Market.
Kathy Williams: Okay. So does Narcan have a shelf life, kind of like an EpiPen would or..?
Kellie Niese: It does. There’s an expiration date on the bottle, but essentially it’s good for 2-3 years.
Kathy Williams: Oh, okay.
Kellie Niese: And it comes in a nice kind of cooler kit that keeps it at room temperature because it can’t be exposed to really cold or hot temperatures. And the kit also comes with like a first aid mask, some instructions – just in case you forget how to use Narcan. But the cool thing about Narcan is it’s pretty benign. What I mean by that is if you administer it to someone that may not have an opiate overdose, and might’ve just collapsed, it’s not going to hurt them.
Kathy Williams: Okay.
Kellie Niese: It’s not going to hurt a child if they take it. And we have the kind that goes in just through a nose pump, just one quick nose pump through your nose.
Kathy Williams: Okay.
Kellie Niese: And literally can reverse an overdose within minutes.
Kathy Williams: So, you said again this is available at the Pathways Center. People can stop in anytime? Do they need to make an appointment or anything?
Kellie Niese: Nope, Pathways is open every day, Monday through Friday, 8 p.m. to 8 a.m….
Kathy Williams: Okay.
Kellie Niese: And 24 hours over the weekend. We also have a phone number 920-4416 that you can reach a Peer Recovery Coach at after 8 p.m..
Kathy Williams: Okay.
Kellie Niese: And they can talk to you about coming in and getting that, or answering any questions about substance use that you may have, or just be someone to talk to. But you can literally just drop in. You don’t need insurance, you don’t need any money, you just need an interest to learn and maybe a desire to save someone’s life one day.
Kathy Williams: That’s a wonderful desire to have.
Kellie Niese: Right.
Kathy Williams: We also want to talk a little bit about a training program you have coming up.
Kellie Niese: Right and so the HRSA grant is looking to expand Peer Recovery Coaches in our County. So, a lot of programs depend on Peer Recovery Coaches in substance use disorder treatment. Peer Coaches, what they do is talk to someone with addiction and help them get connected to treatment. And they’re so important, not only in therapy, but in clinics that have doctors that are doing medication-assisted treatment, in jails for example. They’re needed for a lot of volunteer programs in our community. So we’re providing this education for free. You can express interest in that by reaching out to me at kniese@lcmha.org and we can connect you with an application. And the training is normally around $1,500 a person.
Kathy Williams: Wow.
Kellie Niese: It’s a five-day training that comes with books and resources. All that’s provided for free, and then after you’re done we can connect you to the recovery community and kind of continue to mentor and develop that skill if you’re looking for a role, or a job, or profession in recovery coaching.
Kathy Williams: So, Kellie, it’s kniese@lcmha.org?
Kellie Niese: That’s correct.
Kathy Williams: Okay, I want to make sure we know how to spell “Niese”. So when is that training?
Kellie Niese: It’s the first week of August.
Kathy Williams: Okay.
Kellie Niese: It starts August 2nd and that goes through to August 6th.
Kathy Williams: So anyone who is interested in the training, I mean, check out what’s involved in it and then decide whether you want to go through with it or not. But lots of information available.
Kellie Niese: Right, anyone that’s been addicted to substances and is in recovery now and has a desire to give back and expand into a profession where they’re helping people on the other side. Which is a really awesome experience. And I’m really excited to offer it to our community
Kathy Williams: Well, we appreciate your time Kellie. And we hope that, you know, the community, I’m sure is gathering a lot of information about drugs and drug abuse and how to prevent overdoses and such. You’re a big part of it, so we appreciate you, Kellie. Thank you.
Kellie Niese: Thank you.
Woman’s Voice: Thank you for listening. This information has been provided by the Lenawee Substance Abuse Prevention Coalition. New messages air on the first and third Monday of each month at 6:15 p.m. You can listen to this program as a podcast under the audio tab on WLEN.com and listen and gather more information at DrugPreventionLenawee.com.
