Free overdose prevention kits available in emergency room vending machines

ProHealth Waukesha Memorial Hospital and ProHealth Waukesha Memorial-Mukwonago offer free naloxone overdose prevention kits to help reduce the impact of the community’s opioid epidemic. The kits are available in vending machines located in the emergency department waiting rooms, allowing community members to access lifesaving medication 24/7.

Naloxone – also known as Narcan, Evzio and Nyxoid – can reverse the effects of an opioid overdose. The vending machines distribute the medication while allowing anonymity. No personal information is collected from users.

Each overdose prevention kit includes two doses of naloxone, easy-to-follow instructions on naloxone use and how to respond to an overdose, and other helpful resources. Fentanyl test strips are also available.

The materials are also available upon request at the ProHealth Oconomowoc Memorial Hospital emergency department and at the ProHealth Medical Group clinic on Barstow Street in Waukesha.

The overdose prevention kits are provided by Waukesha County Health & Human Services and will be restocked by the Addiction Resource Council, a Pewaukee-based organization that installed the machines.

In addition to providing access to naloxone, ProHealth has other strategies in place to help reduce the harm associated with drug overdoses. They include tactics to increase public awareness of drug overdose risk and prevention, helping improving access to drug treatment services, and providing supportive services for those who use drugs.