In Boston, Innovative Overdose Prevention Program Making Big Impact
Dr. Alexander Walley looks like a mild-manner physician at your bedside, but as leader of the Massachusetts Department of Public Health’s Opioid Overdose Prevention Pilot Program he has been a veritable super-hero, leading an effort that has trained more than 44,000 people about opioid addiction and how to administer naloxone treatment in emergency situations.
Walley found that death rates from opioid overdose were reduced in communities that implemented the training. “The greater the implementation, the greater the impact. It appears that OEND is a promising, scalable and affordable tool to save lives from opioid overdose,” Walley told Boston Magazine.
Based on Walley’s research on the impact of opioid education, standing orders have been issued across Massachusetts that allow people to pick up naloxone at pharmacies without a prescription.
In the initial implementation of the program from 2007 – 2014, there were more than 2500 documented cases of opioid overdose reversals. Now, as the epidemic has worsened, there are undoubtedly even more people who owe their lives to Dr. Walley’s innovative public health initiave.
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To learn more about Dr. Walley and Boston’s innovative program with naloxone treatment, please visit Bay State Banner.