The Battle Creek Homless Shelter has a new vending machine, but it doesn’t offer chips, candy or drinks. Instead it provides people 24/7 access to the anti-overdose medication Narcan with ‘no questions asked.”
Free boxes of of the medication that reverses opioid overdoses are dispensed from the machine, marking the latest effort to make it more accessible to the public as the number of overdoses continues to climb locally and across the nation.
We are very excited to have the Narcan vending machine implemented and to have this medication available to everyone at any time. We have been trying to keep up with demand through personal and online trainings, but we felt that the distribution was suffering because the kits were limited to being handed out person-to-person.
Dawn Smith, executive director of the nonprofit Substance Abuse Council
“Now we feel we have a better solution to get Narcan in the hands of the people who can immediately assist someone in need and remove the barrier of accessibility,” she added.
Each box contains two doses of the medication with instructions for how to administer it, as well as gloves, a rescue mask and resource information for treatment.
“There (are) other locations where you can get Narcan kits, but to have it where you can just go and get it with no questions asked, no forms to fill out, no information needed (is great),” Smith said. “You can just get it for whatever reason you need it, whether it’s for a loved one or a friend, whatever it may be … To remove all those barriers so you can access this medication, we’re really proud of that.”
