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BEMENT, Ill. (WCIA) — According to the Illinois Department of Public Health, Illinois had more than 3,000 overdose deaths in 2022.
Piatt County wants to bring those numbers down, and they’re doing it one box at a time.
“We’re hoping to do what we can to prevent deaths,” Bement Public Library Director Donna Techau said.
The Bement Public Library has partnered with Piatt County Mental Health to provide boxes with free Naloxone, a medicine that reverses overdoses. Four years ago, the library started carrying it in their bathrooms. Yesterday they took it a step further.
“The County Health Department approached us and asked us if we would be willing to post a box on a pole in our yard,” Techau said.
She has personally seen the effects of overdoses.
“My background in nursing meant that I treated people with opioid overdoses.” Techau said. “And I’ve read enough about Central Illinois to know that it’s an issue.”
Even though they already provided Naloxone, otherwise known as Narcan, she felt they could do more.
“We want to make sure that what is needed by the community is needed any time that they want,” Techau said.
There are currently two other boxes posted in Monticello at Piatt County Mental Health, and the Department of Public Health.
“What we’ve noticed over the last several years is the number of overdoses that are related to fentanyl have spiked quite a bit,” Piatt County Board Member Michael Beem said.
A County Board member said opponents of these measures think this just gives people an excuse to do more drugs, but there is more to it.
“It gives you the opportunity to have a conversation, because if somebody overdoses and they pass away, you can’t have a conversation with them later,” Beem said. “This gives people the opportunity to have their life saved. And then we can start having the discussion about recovery.”