Overdose Aid Kits
O.A.K. Program: Planting the Roots of Recovery
The Overdose Aid Kit (O.A.K.) Program was created by Start Healing Now in partnership with Serve You Rx. The goal: to place life-saving resources on-site at businesses throughout communities in Wisconsin that have repeated incidences of opioid overdose.
Through the O.A.K. Program, fully equipped kits are available for purchase or through donations that contain:
- Naloxone nasal spray (brand name NARCAN®)
- A breathing mask and gloves
- Instructions on how to administer the drug
- Information about resources for treatment and recovery support
All Overdose Aid Kit items are free for use in an emergency. If you are concerned about experiencing or witnessing an overdose in the future, you may take the NARCAN, free of charge. Staff members at each site are trained in the use of NARCAN and help to ensure that the O.A.K. kits remain stocked.
Overdose Aid Kits, or O.A.K.s, are boxes that include the life-saving drug NARCAN, information on how to administer the drug in an emergency, and other information and resources for those impacted by the opioid epidemic. In June 2020, Serve You Rx worked with a nonprofit in Wisconsin to create a pilot program to make NARCAN more accessible. Through that initiative, 25 boxes containing the life-saving drug NARCAN were installed in areas identified as “hot zones” due to repeated incidences of overdoses occurring in or near those locations. Serve You Rx saw a need to expand efforts outside of Wisconsin and formed a partnership with Start Healing Now to grow the initiative into what is now known as the O.A.K. Program. Today, Serve You Rx and Start Healing Now work with governments, businesses, and more to install O.A.K.s in their communities. The NARCAN in each O.A.K, is available for anyone to take, no questions asked, to use in an onsite emergency or to keep in their first-aid kit for future use.
All types of businesses are encouraged to have O.A.K.s on hand at their locations. Training in using the contents is also available. Contact us to learn more.
Serve You Rx, in partnership with Start Healing Now, continues to provide outreach to high-risk communities in Wisconsin. Together, they are expanding the O.A.K. Program by placing O.A.K. kits in new locations and communities in need. Learn more about Serve You Rx and its crucial role in creating and supporting the program.
Serve You Rx also works with the Love,Logan Foundation by installing O.A.K. kits and providing NARCAN® training throughout schools where the Young Professional Development Training Program is offered.
NARCAN® included in each Overdose Aid Kits is available thanks to the NARCAN Direct Program, which provides the life-saving medication at no cost to community organizations like Start Healing Now.
Harm Reduction Matters
Nearly 90,000 people in the U.S. died from drug-involved overdose in 2020, including illicit drugs and prescription opioids.
NARCAN® kits saved nearly 27,000 lives in 2020.
There are a reported 22 million Americans living in recovery from opiates and other addictions today.
Overdose Aid Kits and other harm reduction tactics play a huge role in the decrease of overdose deaths.
O.A.K. locations are selected based on the number of repeated occurrences of opioid overdose in the area. Staff members at each site are trained in the use of NARCAN.
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