Photo by Warren Scott Clark Crago, director of TEMS Joint Ambulance District, checks the Naloxbox in a restroom at the Ohio Department of Transportation’s rest stop near the intersection of state Routes 7 and 213. Part of a study on the most effective ways to curb opioid overdoses, the boxes have been accessed numerous times since they were installed in 2023.

TORONTO — The TEMS Joint Ambulance District has been recognized for the role it’s played in helping to prevent fatal overdoses of opioids.

Organizers of the HEALing Communities Study in Ohio acknowledged the Toronto-based ambulance service for its role in placing Naloxboxes in the men’s and women’s restrooms at a local rest stop and in educating other emergency agencies and the public about overdose prevention.

“The TEMS Joint Ambulance District identified a very clear need for access to naloxone at rest areas and led the effort to make it a reality in their community. In doing so, this effort was replicated, making naloxone available across the state,” said Bridget Freisthler of Ohio State University, one of several universities involved with the Nationwide Children’s Hospital in the study.

Since July 2023, personnel with the Toronto-based ambulance service have been stocking the boxes at the rest stop at the intersection of state Routes 7 and 213 with nasal sprays containing naloxone.

Commonly sold as Narcan, the drug blocks the effects of opioids, helping to restore breathing to someone who has overdosed.

A wall-mounted storage container in each restroom contains four naloxone kits. In addition to the nasal spray, each kit includes a small mask that may be worn to prevent the risk of infection, should it be necessary to administer cardiopulmonary resuscitation to the overdose victim; and information about treatment available for opioid addiction.

The boxes are among more than 130 that have been installed at 65 rest areas in cooperation with the Ohio Department of Transportation through a collaboration among the Healing Communities Study, Ohio Department of Health’s Project Deaths Avoided with Naloxone program and the RecoveryOhio initiative launched by Gov. Mike DeWine.

Launched in 2017, when Ohio had the second-highest number of opioid overdose deaths, the study is aimed at reducing opioid overdoses there and in Kentucky, New York and Massachusetts by identifying the most effective measures to prevent them.

It was supported by the National Institute on Drug Abuse and the Substance Abuse and Mental Health Services Administration’s Helping to End Addiction Long-term Imitative.

Clark Crago, director of TEMS, said he supported the placement of NaloxBoxes at the rest stop because TEMS had been called there multiple times for such emergencies.

Among the most jarring for him was one in which the overdose victim’s toddler was found, unharmed, in the back seat of her vehicle, he noted.

Crago said near-fatal addictions often are the wake-up call needed by individuals to face their addictions.

Noting opiates often are prescribed for pain treatment, he said it’s not unusual for senior citizens taking them for medical conditions to accidentally overdose.

An overdose victim may be unconscious or appear sleepy. Common signs of opioid overdose are small, constricted pinpoint pupils; slow, shallow breathing; choking or gurgling sounds; pale, blue or cold skin; and a limp body.

Crago said the sprays in the rest stop kits contain small doses of naloxone that aren’t harmful to a person who isn’t suffering from an overdose should the person administering them be mistaken.

He said the low doses also are unlikely to trigger an aggressive response sometimes caused by naloxone because it disrupts the euphoric feeling experienced by those under its influence.

Crago said a tag on each NaloxBox is broken each time one is used, so he and his staff know when one has been opened, even if an overdose isn’t reported.

The HEALing Communities Study reported that several were accessed within a month of their installation and a total of 93 were accessed from July 2023 to December 2023.

It added their presence wasn’t accompanied by reports of vagrants, needles or other drug paraphernalia at the participating rest areas.

Crago said while the study has ended, TEMS has been able to continue to stock the drug and distribute it to families affected by drug addiction through funding from Project D.A.W.N.

The drug also has been made available at a discounted rate through Ohio Central Pharmacy, while state legislation passed in 2023 allows TEMS and similar agencies to distribute it without the license normally required for dangerous drugs.

Crago said of the continued effort, “It’s a big deal. We want to keep up on it.”

He said opioid addiction has touched people of all walks of life and in communities throughout the county.

Andrew Henry, Jefferson County commissioner of health, said from data collected by Trinity Health System’s emergency department, he knows there were 20 fatal overdoses in 2020, 31 in 2021, 40 in 2022, 22 in 2023 and 14 last year.

He said of the 14 reported for last year, nine occurred in Steubenville, two in Mingo Junction and one each in Smithfield, Richmond and Toronto.

Henry noted nonfatal overdoses may go unreported but of those reported by Trinity’s emergency department, 302 occurred in 2020, 314 in 2021, 275 in 2022, 259 in 2023 and 181 last year.

While the numbers may be alarming to some, Henry said the sharp declines in fatal and nonfatal overdoses last year are encouraging.

“Definitely, we’re heading in a more positive direction,” he said.

Henry attributed the trend to increased access to naloxone, with which his department also has been involved; efforts by the Jefferson County Drug Task Force to get drugs off the streets; and less public stigma against those requiring mental health or substance abuse treatment.

“I think we’re getting better as a society in accepting that,” he said.