Buckhead Behavioral Health launches Narcan initiative to help reduce opioid overdose in Atlanta
Atlanta, GA (July 29, 2022) – Buckhead Behavioral Health has launched a new initiative to help eliminate opioid overdose deaths.
The treatment center, which offers outpatient addiction and mental health services, will now provide Narcan to every client who has struggled with opioid addiction. Narcan is an FDA-approved medication that can reverse opioid overdose.
Narcan is administered via a nasal spray and does not require medical training to use. Currently, many medical and law enforcement personnel carry Narcan in order to help in an emergency.
Buckhead Behavioral Health recognizes that individuals they treat during opioid rehab can also benefit from keeping Narcan on them at all times. Should a suspected overdose occur, family members, friends, or caregivers with them can quickly administer the narcotic in order to help revive the individual, as well as avoid an overdose death.
Buckhead Behavioral Health staff members will train those involved in this program to safely deliver a dosage of this potentially life-saving medication.
“We want to ensure that all of our clients have access to lifesaving resources that are much-needed in today’s society,” said Carter Pope Jr, CEO and founder of Buckhead Behavioral Health. “This is especially true with fentanyl making its way unknowingly into illicit drugs that people abuse.”
Narcan can be used when a suspected overdose has occurred from using drugs that include heroin, morphine, fentanyl, codeine, oxycodone, and hydromorphone. A dosage of Narcan should be administered immediately after signs of an opioid overdose begin. Once the dosage has been administered, the individual should seek or be given immediate emergency medical care, even if they seem to be improving.
The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) reports that over 150 people die from overdoses related to synthetic opioids such as fentanyl every day. Additionally, CDC data shows that overdose deaths that involved opioids increased to a total of 80,816 in 2021.
About Buckhead Behavioral Health
Buckhead Behavioral Health offers partial hospitalization programs (PHP), intensive outpatient programs (IOP), and outpatient services for adults to treat addiction to drugs and alcohol, dual diagnosis, and mental health conditions. The center, which serves the Atlanta community and surrounding areas, accepts most major private medical insurance. Buckhead Behavioral Health is located at 2285 Peachtree Rd NE, Suite 210 near Peachtree Hills.
If you or a loved one is struggling, you are not alone. For additional information, to learn about admissions, or to send a referral, please call (470) 460-6789, email info@buckheadbh.com, or visit www.buckheadbh.com
Sources:
CDC fentanyl statistic source:
https://www.cdc.gov/stopoverdose/fentanyl/index.html
CDC 2021 opioid overdose deaths source:
https://www.cdc.gov/nchs/pressroom/nchs_press_releases/2022/202205.htm
