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Columbus Health Officials Want More People To Carry Naloxone To Treat Opioid Overdoses

Teresa Long (left), Columbus Health Commissioner, at the Columbus Metropolitan Club forum on opioid abuse.
Andy Chow
/
Ohio Public Radio
Teresa Long (left), Columbus Health Commissioner, at the Columbus Metropolitan Club forum on opioid abuse.

Some of the biggest players in the fight against Ohio’s opioid abuse told business leaders that the epidemic might be closer than they think and warned them to be prepared.

The top health official in Columbus wants you, yes you, to have Naloxone. City Health Commissioner Teresa Long says many people might brush off the overdose reversing drug as something only addicts or their family or friends should have.

Long warned during a Columbus Metropolitan Club forum that anyone could be in a position to have to save a life.

“Join me in thinking, why couldn’t it happen to me? Why not in our workplace? In our church, in our school.”

The Kaiser Family Foundation says Ohio led the nation in opioid overdoses in 2015, with more than 3,000 people dead. Stats for 2016 are expected to be even higher.

Andy Chow is a general assignment state government reporter who focuses on environmental, energy, agriculture, and education-related issues. He started his journalism career as an associate producer with ABC 6/FOX 28 in Columbus before becoming a producer with WBNS 10TV.
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