CalOptima Health is partnering with Medea Inc., a Silicon Valley-based healthcare distribution company, to hand out 100,000 units of naloxone nasal spray to Orange County.
The partnership is part of CalOptima’s initiative to prevent opioid overdose deaths in OC launched last year.
The Orange-based public agency, best known for providing government health insurance to a third of OC’s population, is spending $15 million to purchase 250,000 units of naloxone after gaining board approval last August.
When administered, naloxone temporarily reverses the effects of opioids and restores breathing to someone who has overdosed before emergency personnel arrive.
CalOptima and Medea are donating naloxone to local nonprofit organizations such as Fentanyl Solution, End Overdose and Recovery Road, which held a community distribution event on Aug. 29 in Anaheim.
“We’re putting naloxone in the hands of people in need and making sure that everybody can act as a first responder in the community,” Medea Chief Executive Brandon Laidlaw told the Business Journal.
Drug Deaths on the Rise
Drug and alcohol related deaths have been on the rise nationwide since 2009, according to CalOptima Medical Director of Behavioral Health Dr. Natalie Do.
There was an uptick in substance related overdoses during the pandemic with a 2022 OC Health Care Agency summary reporting a 34% increase in OC between 2019 and 2020, higher than the state average of 32%.
“Interestingly, the increase in mortality didn’t correspond to an increase in emergency visits or hospitalizations,” Do told the Business Journal. “That suggests there is an avoidance or inability to seek proper care.”
Contrary to the public’s perception of overdoses, nearly eight in 10 deaths are accidental with half being attributed to prescription medications, Do said.
“I think people don’t realize that some of these drugs that are synthetic or manufactured are much more potent than what you can get from the pharmacy,” Do said. “Even the ones from a pharmacy, if taken in big enough doses depending on who’s taking it, can have disastrous effects.”
She said CalOptima enlisted Medea’s help as it had an existing contract to provide naloxone to the Orange County Health Department and was known in the community. Medea, which is active in 35 states, is also supplying an order of 20 million masks to the California Governor’s Office of Emergency Services.
The two plan to hold two to three distribution events a month throughout the remainder of the year, Laidlaw said. They’re focusing on cities with CalOptima members, including Buena Park, Irvine and Newport Beach.
