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In This Issue
- A Note from the Naloxone Distribution Team
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New Guidance from VDH
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Program Reminders
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Distribution Data
- Upcoming Presentations
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Promising Practices
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A Note from the VDH Naloxone Distribution Team
Holiday season is approaching! To help minimize potential disruptions in shipping, we encourage you to please think ahead about your needs for naloxone and test strips for the holiday season. VDH continues to ship naloxone year-round, but there may be some delays in shipping during the winter months due to holidays, staff shortages and weather-related interruptions. We continue to encourage partners to order what your organization needs for the next four weeks during regular shipping periods. Please don’t hesitate to reach out if you have any questions or need assistance in preparing for the holiday season.
See VDH holiday closures below:
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VDH will be closed at 12:00 p.m. on Wednesday, November 27 and resume operations on Monday, December 2.
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VDH will be closed December 24 and 25, 2024 and January 1, 2025.
We appreciate your partnership and are committed to supporting you through this busy time. Happy Holidays!
- The Naloxone Distribution Team
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What's New?
Local Health Districts, Community Services Boards, Authorized Comprehensive Harm Reduction Sites
Kloxxado (naloxone) nasal spray 8mg
Local health departments (LHDs), community service boards (CSBs), and authorized comprehensive harm reduction sites (CHRs) are eligible to order Kloxxado (naloxone) nasal spray 8mg in addition to the naloxone nasal spray 4mg.
Several bills were passed in the 2024 General Assembly Session that impact K-12 schools. VDH is working closely with the Department of Education to provide schools with the resources they need to comply with legislation that impacts K-12 schools. Legislative updates for K-12 schools can be found here: 2024 Legislative Update | Virginia Department of Education.
House Bill 732 is a bill that requires that local school boards develop plans, policies, and procedures, in accordance with the guidelines developed by the Department of Health in collaboration with the Department of Education, to address opioid overdose prevention in schools by the beginning of the 2025-2026 school year. K-12 public school divisions are eligible to receive naloxone at no cost, which is one way for schools to meet the requirement of HB732 that each school should maintain at least two unexpired doses of naloxone.
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Learn more about the VDOE Opioid Abatement Education Program which trains educators to deliver Botvin LifeSkills prevention programming to K-12 students. This program supports K-12 teachers, school nurses, school-based mental health professionals, school resource officers and administrators with instruction on opioid misuse through evidence-based education and prevention programming that supports the 2020 Health Standards of Learning.
Please contact the Opioid Abatement Program Manager, Nenneya Shields at nenneya.shields@doe.virginia.gov or (804) 923-0926 for more information.
Harm Reduction Test Strip Expansion
In addition to local health districts, community services boards, and comprehensive harm reduction programs, community-based organizations, first responder leave-behind programs, and re-entry programs are now eligible to receive harm reduction test strips from VDH. Harm reduction test strips can be used to test substances for harmful additives and should be provided to high-risk individuals for this purpose. If your organization falls within one of these categories and you are interested in receiving test strips for your program participants, please reach out to opioidreversal@vdh.virginia.gov for more information.
Test strips can be requested using the same order form in the Pharmacy Partner Hub that your organization uses to request no-cost naloxone. Instructions for the use of harm reduction test strips can be found on the VDH Naloxone Distribution Webpage.
 As a Reminder...
Pharmacy Partner Hub
All external (non-local health district) partners are required to use the Pharmacy Partner Hub to apply for a naloxone agreement and order naloxone and test strips. The REDCap form that you may have previously used to order to naloxone is no longer active.
If you currently have an agreement with VDH for no-cost naloxone, but have not yet registered in the Pharmacy Partner Hub, you will not be able to order naloxone for your organization until you register! Please register here: apply for a naloxone agreement.
Local health departments, except for locally administered health departments, now use WebVision Pharmacy Drugs to order naloxone and harm reduction test strips.
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Naloxone Distribution Data – SFY25
Since the start of State Fiscal Year 2025 (SFY25), VDH has distributed 54,033 naloxone kits (including 47,933 2-dose naloxone nasal spray boxes and 6,100 single-dose IM vials). The chart below shows naloxone distributed by partner type so far in (July 1 – October 31, 2024).
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Upcoming Presentations
Upcoming Opioid Abatement Authority Online “Abatement Academy” workshops that may be of interest to partners:
December 12, 2024 at 10:00 a.m.
How local governments are using mobile services to reach people when accessibility is a challenge.
Piedmont Community Services Board / Mt. Rogers Health District
In Case You Missed It...
September 26, 2024
Preparing your OAA grant application, Part 1: Types of OAA grants, eligible projects, availability of funds, and how to make your application more competitive.
October 10, 2024
Preparing your OAA grant application, Part 2: Training on the new OAA Grants Portal software.
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Promising Practices
In this issue, we are featuring some promising practices for naloxone distribution from the Council of Community Services, Drop-in Center North in Roanoke, VA.
Council of Community Services, Roanoke, VA
The Council of Community Services Drop-In Center North has been a Comprehensive Harm Reduction Program site since 2019. We serve over 1,100 participants in and around the Roanoke Valley.
In the overdose crisis that we are fighting, having the right tools to keep someone's mother, father, sister, or brother alive is everything. The harm reduction test strips that we receive through the VDH Naloxone Distribution Program have allowed participants to know what is in their drug supply and make safer choices when using them. These resources have allowed us to have knowledge of what is in the drug supply in our area, which leads the way for education on drug supply and safer use by giving People Who Use Drugs (PWUD) a choice in their own well-being.
Some strategies that we use to get naloxone into the hands of program participants:
- We rely highly on our Overdose Mapping alerts to educate our clients when we have seen a spike in overdoses in the area.
- We inform participants that there have been [X] number of reported overdoses in the last 24 hours using color-coded magnets on our van: white, yellow and red for different levels of spike severity. The magnets open up conversations with participants about what is going on in their communities.
- If we know participants frequent a high-risk area, we encourage program participants to take as much as naloxone as they need.
- We ask each participant during outreach if they have reversed or experienced an overdose since the last time we have seen them. If participants report either one of those happening, we insist they take naloxone to replace what they have used.
- We ask our participants if they need naloxone at every interaction we have with them.
- We have naloxone sitting out during outreach for every participant to take. The naloxone is up front, visible and available. If someone says they have a "stockpile" we encourage them to continue to take naloxone with them.
- Push the message: "It is better to not need it than to not have it when you need it."
The collaboration with the Virginia Department of Health and the CHR programs across Virginia have made huge strides in saving lives.
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We want to hear from you!
If you have questions or feedback, please contact the Naloxone Distribution Team.
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