A vending machine that dispenses free Narcan (naloxone) kits has been at Trinity Health Livingston Hospital, 620 Byron Road, north of Grand River Avenue in Howell. The vending machine, available to the public 24/7, is located just inside the hospital’s main lobby, to the right of the registration desk.
The life-saving medication is crucial in reversing opioid overdoses, a devastating epidemic claiming more than 50,000 lives annually nationwide, with more than 2,000 of these fatalities occurring in Michigan.
The hospital, in collaboration with the Livingston County Community Mental Health Authority (CMH), installed and stocked the vending machine. Funding for the initiative was provided to CMH by a State Opioid Response grant through the Community Mental Health Partnership of Southeast Michigan. In the 2024 fiscal year, Livingston CMH distributed 1,500 Narcan boxes, both through vending machines and community requests. They are now partnering to assist community organizations — like the hospital — to set up additional vending machine locations.
“The hospital is excited to team up with the Livingston County Community Mental Health Authority to address a real and prevalent health issue amongst local residents,” said Shekinah Singletery, director of Community Health and Well-Being at Trinity Health Ann Arbor and Trinity Health Livingston. “We know the importance of this initiative and how it will offer local residents unrestricted access to a potentially lifesaving resource.”
Narcan saves lives and possibly prevents brain damage by restoring normal breathing to a person whose breathing has slowed or stopped due to an opioid overdose. It temporarily reverses the effects from drugs made from opioids including heroin, morphine, oxycodone, methadone, fentanyl, hydrocodone, codeine, hydromorphone, and buprenorphine. Narcan administration in a crisis allows critical time for emergency medical care to reach a person. If a person has not taken an opioid, and are administered Narcan, they will not be harmed.
Between March 1, 2020, and April 30, 2024, the Livingston County Health Department reported that 423 residents were treated in the emergency department or admitted to the hospital for opioid intoxication. According to a 2021 Opioid-Related Overdose Deaths data report from the Michigan Department of Health and Human Services, Livingston County recorded 35 opioid-related deaths.
