CHATTANOOGA, Tenn. (WDEF)- Last year, 140 people died from drug overdoses in Hamilton County.
While that number is lower than the years before, as the peak of opioid deaths were in 2022, there is still room for improvement in tackling the opioid crisis.
Some recent years such as 2023 have seen over 2,000 patients admitted to area emergency rooms for drug overdoses in a single year.
That’s an average of an overdose roughly every five to six hours.
However, could a box with free narcan in the middle of downtown Chattanooga be a solution?
“We have a lot of residents who have received Narcan and it saved their life. Narcan is just it’s just a life-saving medication,” said Kelli Cruse, the medical coordinator of The Launch Pad.
The Launch Pad is an organization dedicated to the recovery of women addicted to substances.
Through their work, they have grown to understand the need for life saving narcan being accessible to those in need.
This is why they are in the process of recycling an old newspaper box to become a free narcan dispenser.
Cruse said, “Narcan if you if you go to Walgreens, it’s like $29 for for the Narcan. This is going to be free, low barrier, and accessible 24 hours a day.”
This Narcan box will be located right behind the EPB main stage at Miller Park near the intersection of Georgia Avenue and 10th St.
Cruse said, “Miller Park is kind of in the center of several overdose hotspots. We’re not saying that Miller Park is an overdose hotspot. I’m saying it’s centrally located to several overdose hotspots.”
Some inside of the Regional Health Council where this proposal was discussed wondered if Miller Park is the right choice for this box.
Captain Skylar Philips of the Chattanooga Fire Department on the council said, “Personally I have responded to numerous overdoses downtown and (none of them were) anywhere near Miller Park.”
Richard Tobey, a paramedic who is also a part of that council said, “Somebody down Main Street, Alton Park, Rossville Boulevard is not gonna trek up to Miller Park for a box of narcan. That’s where a lot of our overdoses occur.”
Data taken from a QR code on the box combined with 911 data will be used to evaluate that site’s effectiveness.
Dr. Rebecca Martin, who is partnering with The Launch Pad on this project, said, “It won’t be mobile in the moment. We will strap it down so it doesn’t disappear, but we can always move it.”
Cruse says they are waiting to see if they are able to receive a grant to be able to implement this program in May.
