Free Opioid Overdose Reversal Drug Available at Elizabethtown, Ticonderoga Emergency Departments

Elizabethtown, NY – Free Narcan kits are now available at The University of Vermont Health Network - Elizabethtown Community Hospital and its Ticonderoga Campus. The kits include naloxone, an overdose reversal drug, and will be made available upon request to patients with opioid use disorder or their loved ones.

“Without question or judgement, patients and their concerned family members can come to our emergency departments and get one of these kits free of charge.” said Dr. David Clauss, emergency department director and chief medical officer at the UVM Health Network - Elizabethtown Community Hospital.

“We want patients living with substance use disorder and their loved ones to be prepared in the event overdose occurs. These kits can help prevent overdose and save lives,” said Dr. Clauss.

Emergency department staff provide a brief one-on-one training on how to recognize the signs of overdose and administer the naloxone. The kits include nasal spray naloxone, rescue breathing masks and an educational insert.

The kits are part of the hospital’s effort to address the opioid crisis, added John Remillard, president of the UVM Health Network - Elizabethtown Community Hospital. “We are educating staff to ensure we provide a welcoming environment to those living with substance use disorder,” he said, “and our providers are working to expand access to medication assisted treatment at our community health centers.” Safe disposal bins for opioids and other prescription medications are also available at the hospital’s Elizabethtown and Ticonderoga locations.

When a kit has been used, patients can return it to the emergency department at the UVM Health Network - Elizabethtown Community Hospital or its Ticonderoga Campus, or to the Alliance for Positive Health. The kits will be properly disposed and patients will receive a new kit. The Alliance for Positive Health is a community-based organization dedicated to improving lives impacted by HIV/AIDS and other chronic illnesses.

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About Elizabethtown Community Hospital

The University of Vermont Health Network - Elizabethtown Community Hospital is a designated critical access hospital and the primary health care provider serving the 39,000 people who live, work and vacation in Essex County, NY and the surrounding region.

Elizabethtown Community Hospital is transforming rural health care at its main campus in Elizabethtown, NY, at a new emergency department and outpatient center at the former Moses Ludington Hospital in Ticonderoga, NY, and at six community-based primary health care centers located throughout the region.  The hospital is one of the community’s largest employers with 383 employees.

Across the Elizabethtown and Ticonderoga campuses, the hospital maintains two 24-hour emergency rooms, a 25-bed inpatient unit, physical therapy, laboratory, and digital radiology departments, and a variety of specialty physician clinics on a weekly and monthly basis.  

Elizabethtown Community Hospital is accredited by the Joint Commission and is licensed and certified by the New York State Department of Health and the Center for Medicare and Medicaid Services.

About The University of Vermont Health Network
The University of Vermont Health Network is an academic health system that is comprised of six affiliate hospitals, a multi-specialty medical group, and a home health agency. We serve the residents of Vermont and northern New York with a shared mission: working together, we improve people’s lives.  Our partners include:

• The University of Vermont Medical Center  
• The University of Vermont Health Network Medical Group
• The University of Vermont Health Network – Alice Hyde Medical Center
• The University of Vermont Health Network – Central Vermont Medical Center
• The University of Vermont Health Network – Champlain Valley Physicians Hospital
• The University of Vermont Health Network – Elizabethtown Community Hospital
• The University of Vermont Health Network – Porter Medical Center
• The University of Vermont Health Network – Home Health and Hospice

Our 4,000 health care professionals are driven to provide high quality, cost-efficient care as close to home as possible. Strengthened by our academic connection to the University of Vermont, each of our hospitals remains committed to its local community by providing compassionate, personal care shaped by the latest medical advances and delivered by highly skilled experts.