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Health department educates on how to help overdose victims

INDIANAPOLIS (WISH) — The Marion County Health Department hosted a community meeting on Thursday.

The focus? Putting an end to opioid overdoses.

The meeting was held at Mount Pleasant Baptist Church.

Members of the health department, IMPD and agencies helped educate the community about opioids and also showed people how to use naloxone.

“I think there’s always things to learn, there’s always the hope that you never have to come across that situation, but I definitely feel like we’re all prepared now in case something like that was to happen. You know, we can play our part,” Taylor Amundson said.

According to the Indianapolis Metropolitan Police Department. there have been 500 overdoses so far in 2018 — 90 of those happened in the department’s southwest district.

IMPD says it takes them on average three to four minutes to respond to an overdose call, which is why they support educating the public on how to use naloxone.