OAK CREEK, Wis. — Opioid related overdoses continue to rise in Milwaukee County. The county’s medical examiner reports that 80% of confirmed drug deaths this year involved fentanyl, with the county on track for 700+ drug related deaths this year.
Now, local law enforcement agencies like the Oak Creek Fire Department are working to slow down those numbers by handing outNarcan Hope Kits.
Oak Creek Fire Lieutenant Aaron Krukowski began the effort to create these kits in conjunction with the city's Health Department, community medical services, and the Wisconsin Department of Health Services.
“We want to give people who suffer from substance use disorder hope and we want them to realize we have not lost hope in them,” said Krukowski. “We want them to get to a path of recovery.”
After months of planning, Narcan Hope Kits are now available at any Oak Creek fire station. They contain resources on how to get treatment, drug deactivation kits, fentanyl test strips, and two doses of Narcan.
Oak Creek responders will now carry these kits with them to emergency calls as well.
“Every time we have a patient who suffers from an overdose or who is at risk for an overdose, we will leave it on scene in the emergency,” Krukowski said.
Oak Creek fire began handing them out in May and has already used them in over a dozen cases.
The department hopes education on how to give Narcan, as well as its accessibility, will help curb the county’s rising overdose numbers.
