FREE WHITEWATER

Daily Bread for 7.5.23: Bad River Tribe Provides Free Opioid Reversal Drugs Through Mail

Good morning.

Wednesday in Whitewater will be partly cloudy, with scattered afternoon thundershowers, and a high of 88. Sunrise is 5:23 AM and sunset 8:36 PM for 15h 13m 06s of daytime. The moon is a waning gibbous with 94.2% of its visible disk illuminated.

On this day in 1832, General Atkinson and his troops enter the area known by the Native Americans as “trembling lands” in their pursuit of Black Hawk. The area was some 10 square miles and contained a large bog. Although the land appeared safe, it would undulate or tremble for yards when pressure was applied. Many of the militiamen were on horses, which plunged to their bellies in the swamp. The “trembling lands” forced Atkinson to retrace his steps back toward the Rock River, in the process losing days in his pursuit of Black Hawk. 


Both morality and practicality require that the people of Wisconsin provide assistance to those in the grip of addiction. One first preserves life so that one may thereafter improve daily health. Addressing opioid addiction properly requires providing lifesaving antidotes. See from FREE WHITEWATER Narcan and Prudent UW System Campuses Are Installing Opioid Overdose Kits, posted on 12.15.22. (On 3.25.23, UW-Whitewater announced UW-Whitewater partners with Wisconsin Voices for Recovery to install overdose kits.)

Danielle Kaeding reports A new program run by the Bad River tribe is providing free opioid reversal drugs through the mail (‘The program seeks to reduce opioid overdose deaths as they’ve climbed to record levels’):

A new program run by the Bad River Band of Lake Superior Chippewa is providing free medication to reverse opioid overdoses via mail as Wisconsin has seen a record number of overdose deaths in recent years.

Wisconsin saw a 900 percent increase in opioid overdose deaths from 1999 to 2018, while such deaths have reached record levels in more recent years. In 2021, the state Department of Health Services reported a record 1,427 opioid overdose deaths, of which opioids like fentanyl accounted for 91 percent of lives lost.

Preliminary state data shows opioid overdose or poisoning deaths declined slightly last year to 1,358, according to Wisconsin Watch. The investigative news outlet noted that’s still a 62 percent increase from five years ago.

As overdose deaths have spiked, the Gwayakobimaadiziwin Bad River Harm Reduction program is offering the opioid reversal drug nalaxone, more commonly known as Narcan, for free through the mail along with fentanyl test strips.

“Wisconsin has a very high opioid overdose mortality rate, and figuring out different ways of reaching people who are at risk is something that we’re experimenting with,” said Philomena Kebec, economic development coordinator for the Bad River tribe.

A caring community facing a scourge must often be a creative community. The Bad River tribe offers an example of what caring & creativity mean. 


Why did Megalodon go extinct?:

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