Hospitals to aid Glouco officers with Narcan supplies

Two hospital systems will pay for the cost of replenishing the supply of the nasal spray Narcan when police departments in Gloucester County use it to revive heroin overdose victims, authorities and hospital officials said Monday.

The agreement involves Inspira Health Network, Kennedy Health, and the Gloucester County Prosecutor's Office.

It is in response to the rising costs of Narcan, which police departments across New Jersey have begun using in recent years to battle an increase in heroin use.

Officials at Inspira and Kennedy, which both have medical centers in the county, say they hope paying for Narcan doses will reduce the number of overdose fatalities.

"This is something we know works," Inspira's chief executive, John DiAngelo, said.

Prosecutor Sean F. Dalton said a single dose of Narcan doubled in price, from $25 to more than $50, at the end of 2014.

He said the county had spent $6,000 to equip police departments with the drug since it began doing so in September 2014. Narcan has been administered 41 times in Gloucester County since.

Most of the money comes from drug forfeiture funds, as in most counties. None comes from taxpayer dollars, Dalton said.

During each fiscal quarter, Kennedy and Inspira will resupply county police departments with a Narcan dose if officers use one. Both hospitals regularly acquire the drug.

"It's not a significant expense," Inspira spokesman Gregory Potter said. He said Inspira would use its hospital operations budget - which pays for medications and supplies - to cover the cost of additional Narcan doses.

Prosecutors in other counties, such as Camden and Burlington, are also considering working with area hospitals to provide Narcan.

In Ocean County, the prosecutor's office works with three hospital systems that supply police officers with replacement Narcan doses when a patient is brought in, Prosecutor Joseph D. Coronato said.

Gov. Christie signed a law in 2013 that shields non-health-care professionals from liability while administering Narcan in emergencies. Previously, only paramedics were typically allowed to use it.

Last year police in Ocean, Camden, and Burlington Counties began using Narcan. Each county has reported reviving dozens of unconscious overdose victims since then.

The process can take several minutes, with an officer administering two squirts of the drug in each nostril. The victim still typically requires hospital treatment.

In Gloucester County, Dalton has credited Narcan with reducing the number of drug overdose deaths. In 2014, there were 53, down from 72 in 2013.

This year, there have been 10.

Police departments and the Prosecutor's Office will still have to pay to replace Narcan doses that go unused after a year, the drug's shelf life.

Some townships have discovered more heroin users than they expected since police began administering the drug. Monroe Township has administered 18 doses, more than any police department in the county, with the next highest being Washington Township, at seven.

"Quite surprising," Monroe Township Detective Derrick Jacobus said. "What the problem is, I don't know."

Of the revivals there, most have been between ages 18 and 30, men and women. One man has been revived three times, Jacobus said.