News

Coaldale, PA (3/2/2017) – The St. Luke’s Miners Campus administration plans to donate 24 doses of the opioid reversing agent Naloxone—also known as Narcan—to three local law enforcement agencies.

In the coming weeks, the Carbon County Sheriff’s Department and the Lehighton and Palmerton police departments will share the doses purchased by St. Luke’s.

St. Luke’s Miners Campus physicians and members of the Lehighton EMS will provide training to the officers who will be using the Narcan.

A 2015 study identified Carbon and Schuylkill counties as being a region “in need” with a high number of overdoses. As a result, Kaléo Pharma, a privately-held pharmaceutical company based in Richmond, Va., then awarded grant money to the counties that supplied the Jim Thorpe, Summit Hill, Lansford, and Weatherly police departments with Narcan.

First responders say the cost of Narcan has doubled over time due to demand which makes the purchase of the life-saving medication cost prohibitive. Additionally, the grant is no longer available due, again, to high demand for Narcan so St. Luke’s stepped in to cover the cost and donate the injectors.

About St. Luke’s

Founded in 1872, St. Luke’s University Health Network (SLUHN) is a non-profit, regional, fully integrated and nationally recognized network providing services at seven hospitals and more than 270 outpatient sites. The network’s service area includes Lehigh, Northampton, Carbon, Schuylkill, Bucks, Montgomery, Berks and Monroe counties in Pennsylvania and in Warren County in New Jersey. Dedicated to advancing health education, St. Luke’s operates the nation’s oldest School of Nursing and 22 graduate medical educational programs and is considered a major teaching hospital, the only one in the region. In partnership with Temple University, St. Luke’s created the region’s first Medical School. Repeatedly, including 2016, St. Luke’s has earned Truven’s 100 Top Major Teaching Hospital designation as well as 50 Top Cardiovascular program in addition to other honors for clinical excellence. St. Luke’s is a multi-year recipient of the Most Wired award recognizing the breadth of St. Luke’s information technology applications such as electronic medical records, telehealth, online scheduling and pricing information. St. Luke’s is also recognized as one of the state’s lowest cost providers in comparison to major teaching hospitals and other health systems.