Group teams up with UT Martin to provide opioid overdose prevention kits

MARTIN, Tenn. — The University of Tennessee at Martin is making tremendous strides in helping to fight the opioid epidemic.

The Weakley County Prevention Coalition first set up their lock drop box and has now made another stride. The group was one of 10 in Tennessee to receive a state Targeted Response grant.

One of their main goals is to help fight the opioid epidemic with training and education.

“We are not out of reach by being touched by it,” said Melesa Lassiter, regional overdose prevention specialist for Region 6 North of Northwest Tennessee and the Weakley County Prevention Coalition. “So we think it is just another way for us to be able to provide a service keep our residents and people who could be coming to visit them safe.”

Lassiter led UT Martin Residence Life with training and equipped them with overdose prevention kits.

“The kits come with a Narcan nasal spray, and we also have the gloves and also we have some resources for them,” Residence Life Assistant Director Ryan Martin said.

Resources include a guide on how to use the Narcan as well as steps on properly administering the dosage. An additional card is included in the kit lists ways to get help and hot line numbers to call.

“It’s not a safety net,” Lassiter said. “We want to take care of the person in their actual overdose. We want to get them treatment and recovery, and sometimes you have to do that after hitting the last moments — sometimes it takes hitting rock bottom, but we don’t want that to happen.”

Martin says they have a few ways of getting the word out on campus. Magnets will be on the refrigerators in every suite, and for rooms without a fridge they will be on the desk when they move in.

“It is not something that is going to fix the problem by any means,” Lassiter said. “But the opioid crisis is such a huge epidemic, we have to be on the front line. We have to prevent overdoses, so we need to get the education out there about opioids, but we also need to treat someone who is in the current epidemic.”

The Weakley County Prevention Coalition first introduced this initiative to the safety office on campus and then asked if Residence Life would be interested.