Free Narcan dispenser installed at McLean County Health Department

Posted on October 22, 2024

The health department says the purpose of the unit is to help reduce the number of opioid overdoses and deaths by allowing anyone to be prepared with the lifesaving nasal spray in the event of an opioid emergency. (Photo courtesy McLean County Health Department)

BLOOMINGTON – The McLean County Health Department has installed a dispensing unit that makes free boxes of Narcan easily accessible to the public.

According to the health department, the dispensing unit provides boxes of Narcan in the department’s front entrance at 200 West Front Street in downtown Bloomington. Each box has two doses of the nasal spray.

Narcan is a nasal spray form of naloxone, which can help reverse the effects of an overdose long enough for medical help to arrive.

The health department says the purpose of the unit is to help reduce the number of opioid overdoses and deaths by allowing anyone to be prepared with the lifesaving nasal spray in the event of an opioid emergency.

“The opioid epidemic is one of the most significant public health and public safety crises facing Illinois,” Amy Hopper, Behavioral Health Program Manager at MCHD said. “A person who is experiencing an overdose would clearly be unable to dispense Narcan to themselves, so the idea is to have Narcan at home, in the car, at work or anywhere that would make it immediately available for someone to administer in case of a suspected overdose.”

According to the most recent data from the Illinois Department of Public Health, there were 3,261 overdose deaths in Illinois in 2022.

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