Columbus and Franklin County Addiction Plan to Hold International Overdose Awareness Day Event and Free Narcan Pop Up Clinics Today
August 31, 2021
Columbus and Franklin County
Addiction Plan to Hold International Overdose Awareness Day Event and Free
Narcan Pop Up Clinics Today
The Columbus and Franklin
County Addiction Plan will hold an International Overdose Awareness Day press
event today at 11 a.m. at Columbus Public Health’s front portico, 240 Parsons
Ave.
The event will include more
than 6,000 flags on the front lawn of Columbus Public Health to represent the
lives impacted and lost from overdose and overdose deaths in 2020. Speakers
will include Health Commissioner Dr. Mysheika Roberts, Franklin County
Commissioner Erica Crawley, State Mental Health and Addiction Services Director
Lori Criss, and Reanne who will share their firsthand experience with
addiction.
International Overdose
Awareness Day will be highlighted today by six Narcan pop up community sites
where residents can get free naloxone to help prevent overdose deaths.
Free Narcan will be available
today at:
- Franklin
County Court Complex, 375 S. High St. - 9 a.m.-4 p.m.
- Southeast
Healthcare, 16 W. Long St. - 9 a.m.-4 p.m.
- Mt.
Vernon Plaza, 1035 Atcheson St. - 10 a.m.-6 p.m.
- Giant
Eagle Clintonville, 2801 N. High St. - 11 a.m.-6 p.m.
- Stonewall
Columbus, 1160 N. High St. - noon-7 p.m.
- Safe
Point, 1267 W. Broad St. - 4-8 p.m.
The Columbus and Franklin County
Addiction Plan’s partners for International Overdose Awareness Day include:
African American Male Wellness Initiative; Columbus Public Health; CompDrug;
Equitas and SafePoint; Franklin County Public Health; Ohio Department of
Health; OSU Wexner Medical Center; SOAR; and, Stonewall Columbus.
International Overdose Awareness
Day is the world’s largest annual campaign to end overdose, remember without
stigma those who have died, and acknowledge the grief of family and friends
left behind.
In Franklin County
from 2019 and 2020, the total number of known overdoses increased from 5,775 to
5,826. There also was a 47% increase between 2019 and 2020
(from 547 to 804) for unintentional overdose deaths among
Franklin County residents.
The Columbus and Franklin County Addiction Plan is a
collaborative community effort led by Columbus Public Health to address the
addiction crisis in central Ohio. Through targeted interventions and innovative
programs, the plan works to decrease overdoses, overdose deaths and the spread
of infectious diseases.
For free mail order Narcan or more information on the opiate
epidemic and the Columbus and Franklin County Addiction Plan, visit www.columbus.gov/cfcap.
All media and attendees at the event must wear a mask and
remain socially distant.
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