By Dan Spalding
News Now Warsaw
WARSAW — More Narcan will soon be available throughout Kosciusko County.
Tammy Cotton, executive director of LITE Recovery Hub, updated the County Council on many of the new services LITE has established in the past year or so and talked about the expansion of Narcan beginning as soon as Friday.
Cotton said there are currently only four locations in the county where Narcan can be obtained.
Narcan is known as Naloxone.
She said they expect to receive 18 boxes that can hold several doses.
“We’re going to be, as a team, putting those up throughout the county. Our goal is to put at least one in every township throughout the county. Our staff will be monitoring and maintaining those,” Cotton told council.
The outgrowth comes after approval of funding by Health First Kosciusko Count, which has greatly expanded a variety of health services in the past two years.
Narcan has been widely credited, in part, for helping reduce the number of overdose deaths in Kosciusko County in the past year.
Exact locations for the boxes of medicine have not been released, but will likely be available 24/7 and free of charge.
Also at Thursday’s meeting, Council President Tony Ciriello joined the chorus of warnings from others about how Kosciusko County and other taxing units could see steep cuts as a result of state legiatlion seeking to reform property taxes.
“As it stands currently, this county stands to lose a lot of revenue,” Ciriello said. “This is the reality right now that we’re going to lose money — we just don’t know how much yet.”
Local officials will have a better understanding of what to expect when the General Assembly concludes its work On April 29, he said.
Thursday’s council meeting was the first since the death of council member Mike Long who died recently of an accidental drowning.
Cirillo called for a moment of silence in honor of Long.
