‘Naxos Neighbors’ to prevent opioid overdoses in South Bend

 

SOUTH BEND, Ind.-- Over 2,000 Hoosiers died from a drug overdose last year, 84 of them in St. Joseph County, according to provisional data from the state department of health. Sixty of those overdose deaths were caused by opioids.

Organizations like Naxos Neighbors* are working to educate on and distribute Narcan, a drug that can actually reverse an overdose, to save lives and prevent people from dying from opioids.  

You can find out more at Naxos Neighbors' website.

Joanne Cogdell is passionate about harm reduction when it comes to drug use. So passionate that she started a company here in South Bend to address the issue: Naxos Neighbors. Their own app, Naxos OD, got off the ground just last year.

“Our overdose death rate in South Bend is over twice the national average right now,” Cogdell said, “and it’s been rising every year for the last four years, and this year is on target to be higher than ever before.”

The app allows users to call for help in the event of an overdose. It alerts “Narcan first responders,” or people trained and certified through the company, who can quickly show up and administer the opioid reversal medication.  

For outreach and support specialist, Ashley Hochstetler, the opioid crisis is personal.

“Growing up, I witnessed a lot of my friends and family struggle with alcohol and drug addiction,” she said.  

One of her relatives, she said, followed the same path that's led to record overdose deaths nationally.

“Started from a young age, just with pills and stuff like that,” she said, “and progressed to heroin unfortunately.”  

Cogdell said this kind of situation happens all the time.

“In the 90s and earlier, about 80% of the people who were using heroin started on heroin,” Cogdell said. “But in the 2000s, it flipped completely, and about 80% of the people using heroin or street opioids started with a prescription.”

Naxos OD allows an outside party to call for help, for any drug users who may fear arrest if they call police.  

“The biggest thing that’s keeping us from saving people’s lives is the stigma,” Cogdell said.  

The harm reduction community aims to save lives and break the stigma around drug use.  

“Calling on the community to become part of the solution,” Cogdell said. “Because the opposite of addiction is connection, and so we need people who are willing to connect with those people who are in crisis and need help and need support. And if we can do that as a community, we can easily bring down this overdose rate.”