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St. Louisan John Gaal has called for airlines to stock the overdose-reversal drug naloxone after he used the spray to revive a person during a Southwest flight to Las Vegas in 2022. The airline now has announced that starting this year it will include naloxone in its on-air medical kits.
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Missouri's prescription drug monitoring database went online this week. Health workers will now need to enter patient information into a statewide database when they dispense opioids and other controlled substances.
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Refugee and immigrant community advocates say more, and more accurate, resources and data are vital to overcoming the stigma and rising death toll from the opioid crisis.
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The St. Louis County Department of Health will soon distribute the opioid overdose reversal drug naloxone for free at county public libraries. Visitors can ask library employees for naloxone, and librarians will distribute it with no questions asked.
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The overdose reversal medication naloxone is now available for purchase over-the-counter, but advocates say it’s still cost prohibitive — and that stigma continues to impede access.
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In Missouri, the average person born in 2021 could expect to live to be 74.6 years old, a whole three years younger than the average age ten years ago. The state’s drop is part of a nationwide decline, though the life expectancy in Missouri is lower than the United States average.
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The St. Louis Department of Health will soon hire 14 new staff members to create the bureau, which will address the lack of treatment options for drug addiction and mental health problems.
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Health workers in St. Louis will soon be placing dozens of life-saving “naloxboxes” in St. Louis and St. Louis County neighborhoods where there are many opioid drug overdoses and few clinics and hospitals. The boxes contain the opioid overdose reversal drug naloxone and will be put in high-visibility, public areas.
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St. Louis County is on track to see 3,000 patients this year for mental health treatment, up from 2,300 last year. County Executive Sam Page wants to use federal coronavirus relief money and funds from a large settlement to help the demand.
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New data on opioid deaths among Black St. Louisans show fatal overdoses up by more than 500% since 2015. A physician and a researcher with the new CENTER Initiative discuss what they’re doing to reduce those deaths.