Portage County Public Health & Safety Initiative Award

The Mental Health & Recovery Board of Portage County and the Portage County Health District received the Portage County Public Health & Safety Initiative Award for Project DAWN. The award was presented at Celebrate Portage in September 2016 for work completed in 2015.

In response to the growing opioid epidemic in Portage County, and all of Ohio, the Portage County Health District and the Mental Health & Recovery Board of Portage County initiated the Project DAWN program to Portage County residents in September 2015. Project DAWN (Deaths Avoided with Naloxone) is a community-based drug overdose prevention and education program. It provides Naloxone kits to friends, family, and community members who are in a position to help someone nearing an overdose and preventing a death.

Participants of the program attend a 30 minute class to learn to recognize the signs and symptoms of an overdose, perform rescue breathing, call emergency services, administer intranasal Naloxone, and identify treatment services within Portage County.

The kits and education are free to Portage County residents. Classes are held weekly at the Health District’s office. Several community awareness events – in Hiram and Streetsboro – were also held in 2015 to raise awareness and distribute kits. In 2015, 16 classes were held and 55 kits were distributed.

If you or someone you care about is at risk for an opioid overdose, call 330.296.9919 to sign-up for a class and receive a naloxone kit.