Community leaders will come together to discuss ways to make naloxone, a drug that can reverse the effects of an opioid overdose, more available.
The Intelligencer reports the Ohio County Substance Abuse Prevention Coalition and Wheeling-Ohio County health officer Dr. William Mercer will bring key community stakeholders together Wednesday in Wheeling.
Representatives from health care, pharmacies, treatment centers and schools in Ohio and Marshall counties are expected to attend the meeting.
Mercer says organizers are working to issue naloxone in nasal spray form to various community organizations. Naloxone kits also could be distributed to first responders, law enforcement, Ohio County schools nurses and to family members who receive training on how to administer the drug.
Organizers believe greater access to the kits will decrease the number of drug-related deaths.