Vending
Narcan vending machine combats opioid crisis in rural Vermont
April 26, 2024
Vermont's only Narcan vending machine has seen successful results since its launch in August 2023, according to a WCAX 3 news report. In this time, more than 300 boxes of Narcan have been taken from the vending machine.
"That person just gained access to a lifesaving device that potentially saved a life when that would not have been an option just a few months ago," Crystal Bolio, case manager at the Johnson Health Center, told the news outlet. Bolio adds that, while Narcan is not the cure for the opioid crisis, it does help keep people alive in hopes they will seek out resources. "They may not choose recovery when they wake up, but they are waking up," she said.
In 2022, Vermont broke its record for overdose deaths with a total of 244. "If we had a Narcan vending machine in every rural community, so folks had that access, we could potentially get ahead of the overdose numbers we are seeing and wipe it out," Bolio told the news outlet.
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