ELYRIA, Ohio – Lorain County’s 4th Annual Naloxone Street Outreach began on Monday.
On Tuesday, they will be in Lorain.
More than 50 volunteers walked the streets of Elyria on Monday, handing out naloxone kits to neighbors.
Naloxone is a medication that can help to reverse an opioid overdose.
Just last year, the department and its volunteers distributed more than 600 kits.
This year, they used data to determine where they would travel.
Juan Schwartzman was one of the researchers who spent several weeks studying maps and data. Looking for overdose hotspots.
Once they knew where overdoses were more common, they sent volunteers there to knock on doors with the kits.
Samantha Meluch from the Health Department told 19 News that every knock is an opportunity.
“At first, some of them have asked do I need this,” Meluch recalled. “And we always say yes” .
Meluch believes that naloxone should be in everyone’s first aid kit.
According to the health department, more than 118 people died from overdoses in Lorain County in 2023. By 2024, the figure had dropped to 62 deaths.
In the same year, 290 lives were saved because someone had naloxone on hand and could administer it properly.
“It’s so important to be going directly out to the community rather than waiting for the community to come out to us,” Meluch said. “When you add that layer that substance abuse has it creates such stigma in the community” .
Meluch hopes that with each conversation, the stigma will fade.
If you need a naloxone kit and live in Lorain County, you can request one here and have it delivered to your home for free.
