Local Hospitals Offer Free Medication To Reverse Opioid Overdoses

North Memorial Health is making overdose prevention more accessible with a new offering at its hospitals’ security desks.

Both North Memorial Health Hospital in Robbinsdale and the Maple Grove Hospital will have naloxone and fentanyl test strips available for anyone who needs it, free of change. That’s thanks to a partnership with the Steve Rummler HOPE Network, a Minnesota nonprofit that addresses the opioid crisis.

Fentanyl test strips are designed to test street drugs for the presence of fentanyl. Naloxone, in this form, is an injectable treatment to reverse an opioid overdose. 

Overdose data in Minnesota can be viewed on the Minnesota Department of Health’s website. Mike Waldt, North Memorial’s system director of pharmacy, said the number of overdoses is plateauing, but still significant. And at North Memorial hospitals, the demand for help is still there.

“We had dispensed a similar kit 4-to-500 times in the previous year, so we know there is a need for it in these patients we are seeing. So offering it for free, to the public– we know we are going to have higher use than that,” Waldt said.

A map of where people can find free kits is available on the Steve Rummler HOPE Network website. At North Memorial, kits are available at the security desk of both hospitals’ emergency departments. 

Waldt said these tools can also be useful for those on prescription opioids in case of an overdose in those cases.

North Memorial also recently debuted nasal naloxone kits, like Narcan, for high-risk mothers after birth for free. “High risk” includes those with a history of addiction. Waldt said that’s available through a partnership with Broadway Family Medicine.

This spread includes fentanyl test strips and naloxone, both key prevention tools against opioid overdose.

Maple Grove | Robbinsdale