TAKE NOTE
Health department has naloxone
The Brown County Health Department has received a supply of overdose rescue kits from the Indiana State Department of Health to distribute to the community in an effort to help prevent fatal opioid overdoses.
Kits contain naloxone hydrochloride, a non-narcotic medication that reverses the respiratory failure that usually causes overdose deaths.
Naloxone is also known by its trade name, Narcan.
Distribution locations can be found at optin.in.gov. No prescription is needed if receiving naloxone from those providers. Besides the health department at the County Office Building on Locust Lane, the Nashville CVS Pharmacy also is a registered provider.
Persons wanting to get naloxone must go through training on how to administer it, the health department says.
In 2016, 1,271 Hoosiers died of drug poisoning, while nearly 8,300 people visited Indiana emergency departments due to nonfatal opioid overdoses.
So far this year, two Brown Countians have died of overdoses in the county and at least three others have overdosed and survived, according to sheriff’s department and coroner’s reports.
Naloxone has been used for more than 40 years by emergency services personnel to reverse opioid overdose and revive people who might have died without treatment. It is not addictive. Although it is effective at reversing overdoses of opioid drugs like heroin or prescription painkillers, it is not harmful if administered to someone who has not taken opioids, the health department says.
For information on substance use disorder treatment, visit in.gov/fssa/dmha, the Indiana Family and Social Services Administration’s Division of Mental Health and Addiction.
New hours for BMV branch
The Nashville branch of the Indiana Bureau of Motor Vehicles is scaling back its hours two to days a week starting this week.
The new hours are 8:30 a.m. to 5 p.m. Wednesdays and Fridays starting June 20. The office will now be open through the noon hour.
The branch had been open Tuesdays through Fridays between 8:30 a.m. and 5 or 6:30 p.m. depending on the day. It also had Saturday hours between 8:30 a.m. and 12:30 p.m.
A 24-hour BMV Connect kiosk is available seven days a week at the branch. Many transactions also can be completed online at IN.gov/BMV, by mail or by phone, the BMV reported.
“This change allows the BMV to better utilize staff to provide effective and efficient customer service to local communities. No jobs or income are lost by employees,” the BMV reported in a press release.
The Nashville branch lost its manager in March after she was arrested on allegations that she took about $7,400 from the Brown County High School Athletic Boosters. Melanie Redmond served as the club’s treasurer.
