A heroin user holds suboxone during a project to interview Bronx drug users in order to compile data about overdoses on August 8, 2017 in New York City. (Photo by Spencer Platt/Getty Images)
MINNEAPOLIS (FOX 9) - Hennepin EMS will now carry Suboxone, a drug effective in treating opioid withdrawal symptoms, in its ambulances.
Dr. Nicholas Simpson, an emergency and Hennepin EMS physician, highlighted this step as significant for patients experiencing opioid withdrawal after they are administered naloxone, the antidote that reverses opioid overdoses. According to figures from Hennepin Healthcare, Hennepin EMS has attended to over 1,000 patients needing naloxone to counteract an overdose in the last six months.
"Patients who have experienced an overdose may have an opportunity to start this treatment while in the care of Hennepin EMS. After they have started treatment, it is much easier to get into a clinic and maintain this therapy," Simpson said in a press release from Hennepin County Healthcare.
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This move follows recent changes in federal law that allow any physician with an active DEA license to prescribe the drug. Still, Simpson says Hennepin EMS is only one of only a few EMS services to give allow first responders to treat patients with Suboxone.
"We may have one of the most comprehensive EMS protocols in the country to engage patients in this treatment when they are most likely to be receptive to seek change and get care," she said.
Hennepin EMS collaborated with addiction medicine experts and Hennepin Healthcare’s Outpatient Addiction Medicine Department to establish a protocol for using the drug, according to the press release.
Marty Scheerer, Hennepin EMS Chief, stated that the move could bridge a gap from emergency treatment to recovery for patients. A 2015 study published in JAMA found that patients who were administered Suboxone were much more likely to remain in treatment for opioid dependency compared to those who were not.
"Having this protocol and medication available for EMS professionals offers them the greatest opportunity to make a difference in the lives of our patients," Scheerer said. "There's nothing more rewarding than being able to do more than save a life. They're bridging a gap that might lead patients to a place of hope and recovery, where they can truly live."
The change comes amid an increasing number of opioid-related deaths in Hennepin County and throughout the state.