(Gloucester Township, NJ) – As a way to continue combatting the opioid and overdose crisis in Camden County, the Camden County Office of Mental Health and Addiction, in collaboration with the Camden County Addiction Awareness Task Force, has provided more than 400 overdose response kits to Jefferson Cherry Hill Hospital and Jefferson Stratford Hospital.
Jefferson Health will soon distribute these kits to patients who come to their Camden County-based hospitals suffering from overdoses or substance use disorder issues to prevent future overdoses and save lives.
The kits contain the following tools:
- 4mg Narcan nasal spray vials
- Fentanyl test strips
- Xylazine test strips
- Information how to use both
- Information how to get help – Office of Mental Health & Addiction’s telephone number and other resources
- Information about the OD Protection Act
- Information how to respond to an overdose
“We know that getting these lifesaving medications into the hands of those who need it most improves the outcomes of overdose responses,” said Commissioner Director Louis Cappelli Jr. “It is imperative to make these tools as widely available as possible so those who are most at risk of experiencing an overdose can be revived quickly and can know what to do if they see someone else in need of immediate help.”
Jefferson Health East Region President Aaron Chang discussed how the health system is grateful to the county for providing these lifesaving kits.
“The opioid epidemic has had a devastating impact in our community and joint collaboration with community partners is the only way we can improve the current situation,” Chang said. “We are pleased to work with Camden County on such a vital and needed service.”
Recently, the NJ ROIC-Drug Monitoring Initiative released its annual report for the first half of 2024 and found that from January to July, Camden County has experienced a 39% drop in overdose deaths compared to last year. In addition to the fall in fatal overdoses, there has also been a sharp decline in Naloxone administrations in the first half of the year. According to the NJ Department of Health, between January and June of 2023, there were 851 naloxone administrations given in Camden County, compared to the same period of this year, when there were 511 administrations. Similarly, the rate of fatal overdoses in Camden County has fallen year after year since 2022. There were 326 total drug related deaths in 2023, a significant decrease from 354 deaths back in 2022.
“We are trying to make Narcan available in nearly every aspect of public life,” Cappelli continued. “We installed NaloxBoxes in every county owned building, public park, public school, and on several school buses throughout the county to make sure that no matter where an overdose may occur, we have tools readily available to save a life and this effort is paying off.”
Anyone seeking addiction assistance should call 1-844-ReachNJ (732-2465), which provides free professional support for those facing addiction and their loved ones. If you are a Camden County resident suffering from substance abuse disorder, please call the Office of Mental Health and Addiction at (856) 374-6361.