Pharmacist hopes to get life saving drug in every household in Adel community
By Kayla James
Click here for updates on this story
ADEL, Iowa (KCCI) — If there are a few things Sumpter Pharmacy owner Leslie Herron loves, it’s Adel and the people who live there. It’s part of why she’s hoping to get Narcan, which is used to treat narcotic overdoses during emergencies, into the homes of everyone throughout the community.
The other reason is because she knows how life-saving it can be while waiting for first responders to arrive and help.
When people think about what overdoses are caused, many first think about heroin or fentanyl. However, overdosing does not discriminate.
“When you’re in pain, you’re not thinking clearly,” Herron said. “So, it is really easy to lose track of how much medication you’ve taken.”
That’s when Herron says it’s time to pull out the Narcan nasal spray.
“It just needs to be absorbed through the nasal passages because that’s one of the fastest ways to get in the bloodstream,” Herron said.
A law passed in 2016 allows Iowa pharmacists to dispense Narcan to patients over the age of 18.
Herron says she hopes to get them into every house in Adel because Narcan reverses the effects of an opioid.
“So opioids come, you take them, and they bind to a receptor in your body and then they do their job,” Herron said. “What Narcan does is it comes in and it just knocks that opioid off the receptor as if it’s not there anymore.”
“It can be in your home,” said Deborah Krauss, referring to an overdose.
Krauss is the director of the Iowa Harm Reduction Coalition.
“It could be you know your nephew, your niece, or your kid,” she said.
Krauss says she knows how overdosing does not discriminate. Like Herron, she believes it’s important people reduce the stigma around Narcan because anyone can be in need or save a life.
“There’s a lot of people who have never touched a drug in their life and they carry Narcan because you could save a life,” Krauss said.
Please note: This content carries a strict local market embargo. If you share the same market as the contributor of this article, you may not use it on any platform.
