Aetna Donates Narcan to Wayne County
July 12 2018 - 9:00AM
Business Wire
Donation Will Help Save Lives In a Region
Afflicted With Opioid Overdoses
Kathryn Helmuth, M.D., Medical Director of the Wayne County
Health Department, today accepted a donation of 192 Narcan
(naloxone) kits from Aetna (NYSE: AET) and the Aetna Foundation to
combat the ongoing opioid crisis in Wayne County.
Aetna’s donation is the first of its kind to a county in Ohio.
The kits, valued at $15,000, will be distributed by the Wayne
County Department of Health and the Wayne County Sheriff’s
Department to be utilized throughout Wayne County.
“Narcan saves lives,” said Dr. Helmuth. “Aetna’s donation will
help our police departments continue to reduce the number of lives
lost due to the opiate crisis in Wayne County.”
“Aetna is honored to combat the opioid epidemic in partnership
with Wayne County. We hope that our donation will assist community
members in an immediate need, so those struggling with opioid use
disorder can get the longitudinal treatment they need for
recovery,” said Robert Balchick, M.D., Aetna Medical Director.
“These kits can, and do, save lives.”
The Ohio Department of Public Health reports that in 2016,
unintentional drug overdoses caused the deaths of 4,050 Ohio
residents, a 32.8 percent increase compared to 2015 when there were
3,050 overdose deaths. In Wayne County, there were 25 deaths in
2017 and 38 deaths in 2016 due to overdose.
“Tragically, we have lost eight residents in 2018 alone due to
overdoses,” said Dr. Helmuth. “Having these additional life-saving
resources will help prevent situations that could become
deadly.”
Aetna is fighting the misuse and abuse of opioids with
integrated pharmacy, behavioral health and medical programs. In
June 2017, Aetna published its opioid strategy paper, which
describes the company’s work to prevent misuse and abuse, intervene
when an at-risk behavior is identified and supporting patients with
access to evidence-based treatments.
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version on businesswire.com: https://www.businesswire.com/news/home/20180712005013/en/
Aetna Media Contact:Karla Cutting,
312-928-3020cuttingk@aetna.com
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