Kentucky officials are trying to make it easier to find and access naloxone, a safe-to-use medication that has become a cornerstone of community efforts to prevent people from dying of an opioid overdose.
The state recently launched a new website, FindNaloxoneNowKy.org.
“Anybody in Kentucky can save a life,” said Eric Friedlander, secretary of the state Cabinet for Health and Family Services.
The website shows where naloxone is available for free and where people can get it at local pharmacies, either through health insurance or by paying out of pocket.
It features an interactive map where people can search for naloxone by city, zip code or county.
To find locations where naloxone is offered for free, it’s better to search by city or county instead of zip code.
The website also includes a new tool for community agencies and businesses to order naloxone. A button in the right-hand corner of the webpage leads to an online form agencies can fill out, and Friedlander said the state will help them from there.
Distributing naloxone “as widely and easily as possible” is one of their key strategies to protect people from overdoses, he said.
The Kentucky Harm Reduction Coalition is one of the locations in Jefferson County that offers free naloxone to the public. Executive Director Shreeta Waldon said they also supply naloxone directly to organizations.
To distribute resources like naloxone, Waldon said it’s important to meet people where they’re at and remove barriers to access.
Beyond the new Find Naloxone Now website, the state government also revamped its Find Help Now site, in partnership with the Kentucky Injury Prevention and Research Center at the University of Kentucky.
The tool is designed to show Kentuckians where they can access mental health services as well as treatment providers and recovery housing for people with addiction. It connects people to the new naloxone site, too.
“We hope we’ve made it more user friendly,” Friedlander said.