Dermot's Public Service Announcement

“Dermot’s Public Service Announcement”

 

            File this one under the category of “out of the mouth of babes”.  Last weekend Frank took the kids to Comcast Cares Day where the company does a day of volunteer work in the community.  This year they were doing some work at a playground and daycare and community center.  They were painting and building shelves and planting flowers etc...  By all accounts they had a good time and felt they did some good work.

 

            While in this part of the city, Dermot noticed a billboard across from the center they were volunteering at and had Frank take a picture of him standing below it to send to me.  He had asked Frank about it and Frank told him what he knew and then said I might know more about it.  The billboard (see below) is about Naloxone or Narcan and urges the public to carry it and use it in case of opioid overdose.  Across the top is the phrase “Saving a life can be this easy”.

 

            So Dermot, and then consequently, Wren had a lot of questions then about Narcan and opioids and overdoses.  They hear about the opioid crisis on the news and they hear about drugs and addiction all the time from Frank and I and messages from school about prevention.  When I next had the kids, we talked at length about it until their eyes glazed over and I knew the moment was gone, but during that discussion, Dermot had asked me if I carried Narcan.  I had to say that I didn’t.  He wanted to know why I didn’t given that I spend so much time in the recovery world and I am around alcoholics and addicts all the time and you never know who might be struggling and relapsing and not talking about it.

 

            So, after sleeping on that, or rather not sleeping on that…  I decided to find out about how I go about buying Narcan because he is absolutely right.  Knowing the nature of addiction as I do, people are prone to relapse if they aren’t doing the things they should to maintain their sobriety and recovery and with the rise of opioid-related deaths out there and fentanyl-laced batches of heroin and I could go on with all the reason why it just makes sense for me to carry it…

 

            Don’t laugh but I started with Amazon, because, why not.  I bought cases to carry doses in that I thought had the spray in them already because the wording was misleading so be careful about what you are getting.  Then when I realized my mistake I googled it and got better information.  I would have been better off starting with the information on the billboard in the picture but I wasn’t thinking.  In any case it turns out you can buy Naloxone or the generic version Narcan over the counter without a prescription in 46 states at a pharmacy, one of which is Pennsylvania.  There is something on the website about needs-based paying also though I did not look into that too deeply.

 

            Off I went to CVS and marched up to pick up my regular medications and asked if I could buy Narcan.  I will give them credit for not balking too much given that the neighborhood I live in is not the kind of neighborhood I think they get asked that one often.  They had to scramble a little to figure out where the information on the Narcan was and I had to step away from the counter to allow them to ask me some questions and sign a paper acknowledging my understanding of what I was buying and they had to enter what seemed like a lot of information into the computer system and I am sure I am now flagged somewhere, but I’m fine with that.  I paid $98 for a box with 2 doses and that was an out-of-pocket expense without a prescription.

 

            I came home and read how to inject the nasal spray and when.  I learned that if I suspect that someone is overdosing on an opioid and I use this on them and it turns out they weren’t on an opioid, I won’t have hurt them.  Narcan has the ability to help someone on opioids but won’t otherwise do anyone any harm if they aren’t.  I was going to say more about what to do and the ins and outs of how it works but I am not a doctor and though the instructions are simple, if you are at a point where you think you need to administer this to someone, call 911 and have them talk you through it so nothing goes wrong.

 

            I told Dermot all this and showed him the kit I will now carry with me.  He asked me how much it cost and I told him.  He seemed concerned that I had spent that much money on something he had suggested.  But I assured him I hope I never have to use it but if I do and it helps save someone, it will be more than worth it and it will be because he brought it up in the first place.  That is one PSA and billboard that did its job in sparking a conversation and pushing at least one person into action.