The contents of the new leave-behind Narcan kits for Gold Cross. July 1, 2025. PC: Fox 11 Online
MENASHA, WI (WTAQ-WLUK) — Narcan kits are always on board ambulances at Gold Cross, but now the agency has “leave-behind kits” for when they leave a call.
“We want to make sure that people have access to lifesaving medications, but also have access to the resources they need,” said Andrew Olson, a paramedic with Gold Cross. “So we’re not just reducing one overdose, but reversing the actual cause itself and getting the additional resources out to people who need it.”
Olson said it’s a huge step up to be able to have that resource on hand.
I think one of our disconnects has been not having the actual connection to our resources readily available to hand and leave with our patients after we leave a scene potentially, or even leave with their family members.
Work to add the kits was done in conjunction with local health departments like Winnebago County.
Maddie Breager with Winnebago County Public Health said they worked to calculate how many kits are needed.
“We were able to pull data from Gold Cross and our numbers that we were able to look at. From that, we were able to get a guess-timate of how many runs from EMS for each county,” said Breager.
She added Narcan should be in the hands of those who need it most.
“Last year in Winnebago County, we had 24 overdose fatality reviews, fatal overdoses. And that’s 24 too many. Hopefully, if we can save more lives, that’s the goal,” she said.
Olson said increasing the ways in which community members can acquire Narcan, like public health vending machines, giveaways or ambulance distribution, is a must.
“There’s sometimes a stigma involved as well, where they may not feel comfortable going to some of those public places where those vending machines are, so now we can bring those resources and those life saving medications directly to them,” said Olson.
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