NICHOLASVILLE, Ky. (LEX 18) — Shauna O'Nan Traylor is a peer support specialist at the Jessamine County Health Department. She was on hand today as the Jessamine County Detention Center got the county's first NaloxBox or emergency overdose kits. Traylor says this box is meant to help save lives.
She says, "The goal is, when somebody is released from jail, for them to grab a box of Narcan because once they have experienced abstinence for a length of time, then their risk of overdose is extremely high."
Each kit has doses of Narcan and instructions on how to use it in an emergency. The health department's ASAP team purchased 10 boxes and is hoping to find nine other agencies to display them. Jessamine County's jailer, Jon Sallee, says that around 80% of the inmates in the facility have charges that are related to drugs. He knows just how important community resources can be.
"I've recently had a friend of mine who has been dealing with an addiction for a long time, that lost the battle. Lost his life. Giving the family resources it may not or that are starting to deal with this — giving them the opportunity to have this lifesaving drug here is a, it’s a great thing for the community,” says Sallee.
He hopes to be an example for other agencies considering getting a NaloxBox.
Traylor has her own story about why she wants to see people get the help they need - as she approaches her fifth year of being sober.
"By the end, I had lost contact with my family, I wasn't able to see my children. I basically was living in a trap house with holes in the floor, going in and out of the detention center all the time. So, that moment of surrender for me when I decided myself to go to treatment, and to learn a new way to live, that was the best decision I’ve ever made in my life,” shares Traylor.
Traylor says that she has overdosed seven times. She says she wants people to stay alive long enough — to have the chance to try a different lifestyle. She says, "The idea that we need to give up on people needs to stop. This is an epidemic that is affecting everybody in our communities."
Traylor hopes these boxes raise awareness, give hope, and encourage people to become community partners. She says recovery is possible.
The Jessamine County Health Department encourages people who are seeking recovery and those that are interested in becoming a community partner to reach out to them for more information.
