“The drivers as you can imagine, see a lot of stuff at night that we don’t want to see but nonetheless it happens,” Valley Cab owner Craig Owen said.
Starting next week, Valley Cab in Medford will be equipping all its cars with Naloxone, a drug meant to reverse an overdose.
“It’s very safe to use, so if somebody was not in an opioid overdose it’s not going to cause any harm, it’s safe to use for people of all ages, it’s not going to have any interactions with any other medications,” AllCare Health Clinical Pharmacist Mark Kantor said.
Kantor says the more people who have access to the life-saving antidote the better.
“From a safety standpoint, it’s really much like having a fire extinguisher, you know you would keep that in your cab in case your cab got on fire. This would basically allow trained taxi drivers to be able to administer that person that is having that suspected overdose,” said Kantor.
Owen says his drivers will always have the drug in close proximity in case of an emergency.
“People that are overdosing aren’t making good choices but maybe that one time they get saved they can get their life around,” said he.
Starting May 8, Valley Cab drivers will have Naloxone in all their on-duty cabs.
To find more information about Nalaoxone, visit staysafeoregon.com.
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