Federal government recommends even elementary schools have naloxone available. So far this year, 15 Colorado kids between the ages of 10 and 18 have died from fentanyl overdose, not all at school.
naloxone
Posted inHealth
Teens with addiction are often left to detox without medication. Denver Health is trying to change that.
Denver’s public safety net hospital has opened what is believed to be the first adolescent inpatient detox unit.
Posted inHealth
Colorado maternity wards are giving out take-home doses of the opioid overdose antidote in hopes of saving moms
A project to get hospital emergency departments to dispense naloxone was so successful that organizers are now focused on labor and delivery units
Posted inSun Investigation
After teen fentanyl overdoses, moms and community groups step up to hand out testing strips, lifesaving nasal spray
Kate Lacroix was screaming at the top of her lungs on social media. Boulder teens were dying of fentanyl, swallowing pills that looked like real pharmaceuticals but instead were counterfeits laced with lethal doses of the synthetic opioid. “URGENT COMMUNITY WARNING,” she said in one February Facebook post, begging others to help spread the word. […]
Posted inColoradans, Health, News, Politics and Government
Colorado hospitals are giving patients take-home doses of the overdose antidote to fight the opioid crisis
When doctors write a prescription for the life-saving antidote to an opioid overdose, patients only bother to fill them about 5% of the time. But what if hospital physicians simply handed a vial of naloxone to the patients they worry are most likely to die, particularly those who were just rushed to the emergency room […]
Posted inOpinion, Opinion Columns
Opinion: A bill in the Colorado legislature might have saved my son
My son’s story may resonate with many others who have gone through the same experience. It started with a broken ankle. He was given opiates for pain alleviation and quickly became addicted to the doctor-prescribed medication. Not long after that, his girlfriend ended up finding him between the couch and the coffee table, unconscious. My […]
Posted inHealth, News, Politics and Government
We’re dealing with a pandemic, but remember the opioid crisis? Coronavirus is likely to make it worse.
The coronavirus pandemic overshadowed a long list of other problems that suddenly seemed less urgent in the wake of a deadly virus and its economic destruction. Included at the top of that list: the opioid epidemic. That crisis is still raging in Colorado and predicted to get even worse thanks to the stress, isolation and […]
Posted inColoradans, Crime and Courts, Health, News
Denver city councilman, state lawmaker revive plans for safe injection site, in spite of federal law
Tony Fairchild died leaning against a tree along the Cherry Creek Trail, overlooking the water as autumn leaves fell. It could have happened anywhere — a restaurant bathroom or a shadowy alley. Not long before, Tony had overdosed in the restroom of a Sonic Drive-In, and police had to break down the door to get […]