LAS VEGAS, Nev. (FOX5) – Health workers showed FOX5 a behind-the-scenes look at efforts to send help to overdose “hotspots” and distribute harm reduction supplies in communities impacted by overdoses and deaths.
Starting in April, the Southern Nevada Health District releases monthly Overdose Surveillance reports, highlighting areas where there are the most fatalities or emergency incidents. Over 12 months, the most deaths occurred in the areas of Downtown and Las Vegas, UNLV and Boulder Highway.
SNHD tells FOX5, workers track incidents to dispatch help and supplies and may hand out naloxone or Narcan, the nasal spray that reverses an overdose, or fentanyl test strips.
“They’re getting out into the street, into encampments, into the tunnels. We’re trying to reach everybody where they’re at,” said Lori Bryan, an SNHD health educator.
“We have a broad network of basically ‘boots on the ground.’ They will let us know when they’re seeing issues in certain areas. We use all of that information when we determine where we go,” Bryan said.
SNHD has also ramped up their supply and distribution efforts. According to Bryan, 32,000 Narcan doses were dispersed throughout the Las Vegas Valley last year, and the numbers should double this year.
The state’s saturation goal is to distribute 170,000 doses annually across the county, Bryan said. Community partners regularly come to SNHD headquarters off Decatur Blvd. to replenish supplies.
“It’s really hard to today find somebody who hasn’t lost someone to an opioid overdose,” said Sara Ayoub from Foundation for Recovery. “It’s just meeting people where they are and giving them the love and empathy and the support and the resources that they need to keep themselves alive,” she said.
Bryan said SNHD would like to add more vending machine locations across the Valley with free harm reduction supplies, and connect with more community partners to scale up distribution.
For more information, click here: Southern Nevada Health District
Copyright 2024 KVVU. All rights reserved.