Carbon names Lehighton Ambulance Association as coordinating entity for naloxone distribution

Carbon County wants to make sure naloxone kits are available to first responders and a state program is helping achieve that.

On Thursday, the county commissioners unanimously voted to name the Lehighton Ambulance Association as the local centralized coordinating entity for the distribution of naloxone for police, the sheriff’s department and possibly the county prison in the future.

“They already do this program now for the departments but there is a state contract where they would get the naloxone free of charge,” Commissioners’ Chairman Wayne Nothstein said, adding that the action taken will help with this process.

Lehighton Ambulance will submit the application for a grant for the two-year program. The grant is through the Pennsylvania Commission on Crime and Delinquency, in collaboration with the Pennsylvania Department of Drug and Alcohol Programs, the Pennsylvania Department of Health and the physician general.

Lehighton Ambulance would receive intranasal naloxone for distribution to first responders in the county.

Nothstein said that departments using the naloxone will have to file reports to maintain the program and also help with statistics on the drug problem in the county.

Lehighton Ambulance now has until Nov. 6 to submit the application.

In other matters, Nothstein reminded everyone that this week is fire prevention week and urged people to support local fire departments.

Multiple programs throughout the region are taking places at schools and fire houses to show the importance of having a plan, having working smoke detectors and knowing what to do in the case of a fire.