Sentara expands naloxone distribution program to 16 emergency departments

Sentara Health has expanded its participation in the Virginia Naloxone Project to 16 emergency departments across Virginia, offering naloxone nasal spray (widely known as Narcan) free of charge to discharged patients at risk for opioid overdose. When a 17th ED joins the program this fall, every Sentara emergency department in Virginia will be part of the initiative, which aims to prevent avoidable deaths from opioid overdose.

Sentara Norfolk General Hospital’s ED treats as many as 20 patients per week for opioid overdose or related issues. Many are rescued in the field with naloxone spray administered by EMS responders or law enforcement officers and brought to the ED to be stabilized. Since joining the Virginia Naloxone Project in February, the hospital’s ED has provided approximately 24 sprays to discharged patients.

“Providing naloxone to this population offers a real potential to save lives,” said Marcus Kaplan, a clinical pharmacy specialist at Sentara Norfolk General Hospital’s ED, who championed Sentara joining the Virginia Naloxone Project. 

“We could send patients home with a prescription or recommend that they buy it over the counter, but putting it in their hands is the best way to help them survive an overdose."

Naloxone retails for $40 or more, which can be cost-prohibitive for many patients.

Kaplan holds up the naloxone nasal spray, more commonly known as Narcan.

“Making this critical resource available to patients at risk of opioid overdose is an important step toward improving the health and safety of our community,” said Bruce Lo, M.D., medical director for Sentara's hospital-based EDs in Norfolk.

“Death can happen in minutes with an opioid overdose,” said Catherine Floroff, director of pharmacy at Sentara Norfolk General Hospital. “We use naloxone to prevent death.”

For Sentara, the goal is simple: make sure that when an overdose survivor leaves the ED, they have the best possible chance of surviving what comes next.

In addition to the naloxone, survivors have options for seeking treatment after the hospital. ED physicians will discuss bridge medications to help patients maintain until they see an outpatient provider within 48 hours of discharge, and the Sentara Opioid Bridge to Recovery program connects ED patients with community-based treatment programs.

Sentara also provides intensive outpatient therapy (IOT) and partial hospitalization programs through its behavioral health division, which helps patients remain in their communities and continue working while attending daily therapy sessions.

The Virginia Naloxone Project is supported by state legislation and grant funding from the Virginia Opioid Abatement Authority, using settlement funds from lawsuits against opioid manufacturers and distributors.

The Virginia program, modeled after nationwide Naloxone Project, also includes VCU Health, Carilion Clinic, the Virginia Society of Health System Pharmacists, the Virginia Opioid Abatement Authority, the Virginia Society for Addiction Medicine, the Virginia College of Emergency Physicians, and the Virginia Hospital & Healthcare Association (VHHA).