BEREA, Ohio — A new partnership between the Ohio Turnpike, RecoveryOhio and Project DAWN will provide naloxone at all 14 turnpike service plazas.
The partnership comes after "unintentional drug overdoses resulted in nearly four times as many deaths as motor vehicle crashes" across Ohio in 2022.
Naloxone, also known as Narcan, will be available at all 14 service plazas across the 241-mile toll road and can be used in case of a medical emergency. The nasal spray can reverse an overdose caused by opioids by restoring consciousness and breathing.
"Currently we have two doses at every service plaza, maintenance building, toll plaza, and every maintenance vehicle has Naloxone outfitted in them," said Cory Skoczen, Safety Services Manager at the Ohio Turnpike and Infrastructure Commission.
Skoczen said over the last year, his team has been trying to come up with a plan to make sure they have resources available in the field. He said Ohio Turnpike employees go through training to learn how to administer Naloxone and how to identify signs and symptoms of an overdose.
"At the end of the day, our number one goal from the safety department, from the administrative department is to get everyone home safely," he said. "Not only working out there on the roadway and providing safe work zones and safe work areas, but making sure they have the resources they need to protect themselves form a health standpoint."
According to Cleveland Clinic, prescription opioids cause about 25% of all opioid overdose deaths. Additionally, nonprescription opioids account for about 75% of opioid overdose deaths.
The initiative to have naloxone at the Ohio Turnpike's plazas is part of Gov. Mike DeWine's RecoveryOhio and the Ohio Department of Health’s Project DAWN (Deaths Avoided With Naloxone) to expand access to naloxone.
"In some recent conversations with some counties, they actually shared with us that they were seeing an increase of overdoses and the need for Naloxone, both at these service plazas, and also, some of their workers that were working on our highways across the state were coming into contact with people who were experiencing overdoses," said Aimee Shadwick, director of RecoveryOhio.
Shadwick called Naloxone one of the most effectives ways to save lives from overdoses, and said RecoveryOhio is also working with the Ohio Department of Transportation to make these cabinets available at rest areas across the state.
"When we thought about adding this Naloxone to the Turnpike service plazas, it was another opportunity to hopefully get Ohioans and visitors to our state the safety and the peace of mind to know that this medication is available," she said.
Shadwick said it's also important for people to carry Naloxone in order to help when needed, which can be made available at naloxone.ohio.gov.
“In an overdose situation, minutes matter. By providing naloxone at service plazas and to Turnpike employees, we are hoping to save lives and give people a chance to access recovery resources,” added DeWine.
The Ohio Turnpike also says that foremen and assistant foremen will also carry naloxone kits in their maintenance vehicles.
“Ohio Turnpike employees and travelers who recognize that an individual requires medical assistance from an apparent opioid overdose or is accidentally exposed to an opioid, now have the wherewithal to locate and administer naloxone at our service plazas,” said Ferzan Ahmed, executive director of the turnpike commission.
Officials say that nearly 800 Ohio Turnpike employees have been trained on how to recognize the signs and symptoms of an opioid overdose and how to administer naloxone.
Two of the Turnpike boxes are funded by the ADAMHS Board of Cuyahoga County, according to Board CEO Scott Osiecki.
"Should someone have an overdose emergency, they can pull into that rest stop, or they can grab the Narcan at that rest area, and administer it while they wait for first responders to arrive,” Osiecki said.
Dr. Sam Stitzel, lead pharmacist for Project DAWN at UH, said "naloxboxes" meaning the wall mounted cabinets where Naloxone is kept in places like service plazas, are beneficial because they're available in the public, so people don't have to go to a specific distribution site to access the resources.
"We have fire extinguishers, we have AEDs in public places, Naloxboxes are no different," said Dr. Stitzel. "We don't want to have to ever use them, but in the case of needing to use them, we absolutely want them."
EDITOR'S NOTE: The video above previously aired on 3News on March 27, 2023.