SHAFTER, Calif. (KERO) — On Wednesday, Kern County Public Health began offering Narcan and opportunities to learn how to use it along with their normal offerings, aboard the Mobile Health Clinic.
- As part of Kern County Public Health's regularly scheduled stop with the Mobile Health Clinic in Wasco on Monday, the staff aboard are now able to provide Narcan to residents, and also train them how to use it.
- Michelle Corson, the public affairs officer for KCPH, said the Narcan distribution campaign has been running in the county for a while now, but adding it to the mobile clinic seemed like the most logical next step.
- To learn more about Narcan and where residents can find it for free, that information can be found on the Kern County Behavioral Health Services website and the Kern County Public Health website.
BROADCAST TRANSCRIPT:
If you live in some of the farther-flung communities across Kern County, you’ve likely seen or at least heard of this bus, it's the Kern Public Health clinic. They do things like health screenings, tuberculosis testing, and more, but on Wednesday when they were in Wasco they started handing out Narcan, but not just handing it out, but also training people on how to use it, in case they come across someone overdosing.
According to Michelle Corson, the public affairs officer for Kern Public Health, the Narcan distribution project for public health has been available to the public for a while, and making it a part of the mobile health clinic was an obvious next step.
"Our Narcan Distribution Project has been available for some time, but bringing that to our mobile health vehicle was the next step in expanding those services and again, offering it in a venue where it's bringing it into these communities with a staff that is ready to train and answer questions from these residents, we think that's very important."
Unlike a place where people can just grab a box of Narcan and be on their way, if people come to the mobile health clinic and ask for a demonstration? They'll do that.
According to the California Overdose Surveillance Dashboard, there were 308 opioid overdose deaths and 674 emergency department visits relating to opioid overdoses in 2022, with preliminary data for 2023 trending a tick higher when looking at data on a rolling calendar including the final quarter of 2022/
As opioids and overdoses related to them continue to persist in Kern County, Corson says the staff wants those rates to drop and many organizations across the county are working to combat it.
“Everything from our libraries, the leader in this effort which is Kern Behavioral Health and Recovery Servies and their array of offerings. We are one part of a bigger picture but we are thrilled to be alongside the rest of our community agencies to make this easy, to make it free, and to minimize any fear or hesitation that people would come and get Narcan and be ready to respond”
To learn more about where Narcan is available across Kern County, be sure to check out the Kern Behavioral Health Services and Kern public health websites.
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