A Sioux Falls-based nonprofit is seeking to curb the rates of opioid overdose deaths on the Pine Ridge Reservation and throughout South Dakota.
Emily’s Hope has been working with businesses and tribal governments to distribute naloxone, or Narcan kits, to various locations in the state and on reservations.
“We know these naloxone kits are needed,” said the founder of Emily’s Hope, Angela Kennecke. “Unfortunately, the Native American population is especially vulnerable to substance use disorder, to overdoses, to fentanyl poisoning and death.”
Naloxone is a medicine that quickly reverses an opioid overdose. The organization started placing naloxone boxes in public places in Sioux Falls on May 7 of last year. Kennecke said her nonprofit idea began after experiencing a personal tragedy.
“I lost my 21-year-old daughter Emily to fentanyl poisoning, and she didn’t know that the drugs she used had fentanyl in it,” said Kennecke. “There was no naloxone available.”