As a retired paramedic with the San Diego Fire Department and as an Advanced Cardiac Life Support (ACLS) instructor for more than 30 years, Larry Kenemore knows what can make a difference between life and death.
“I know that AEDs save lives,” said Kenemore, who spent 24 years as a paramedic. “And this [ODRescue™ Box] is something that needs to be put around communities to save lives.”
Kenemore, who signs his emails with “Serving to Change Lives/Save Lives,” is Rotary’s North America chapter leader. Each continent has a Rotary chapter leader, and Kenemore currently oversees happenings in North America along with a Board of Directors — all Rotarians who are experts in their field, such as addiction treatment, recovery, and overdose reversal training.
As part of Rotary’s Project SMART®, which is an overdose training and addiction program for Rotary members, Kenemore and others include ODRescue Boxes as part of their 20-minute presentations about raising overdose and addiction awareness.
Around 575 clubs so far have heard about the benefits of the ODRescue Box.
He said clubs across the country are providing overdose training five days a week. There are thousands of clubs across the U.S., and many of them are interested in Project SMART® since overdoses and addiction are affecting their communities.
Prior to Project SMART® presentations, Kenemore will check with local fire and police chiefs before speaking to individual clubs about overdose and addiction, because he wants to inform residents about their area’s unique struggles with overdoses and addiction.
“[Police and fire chiefs] start talking to us about a mile a minute, telling us what’s going on in the community,” Kenemore said.
He said having an ODRescue Box at meetings helps attendees understand its use and importance.
Even though statistics show improvements being made in the fight against overdoses and addictions, Kenemore believes the battle continues. He noted that popular drugs years ago, like black tar heroin, crack cocaine, and methamphetamines, continue to survive.
“It doesn’t matter what the government does; there’s going to be addiction and overdoses here for sure because there’s a market for it,” he said.
“The problem with this issue is that a lot of people don’t want to acknowledge that there is a problem. Until they acknowledge that there’s a problem, it’s an uphill battle for us.”
Kenemore thinks that the more people who know about overdose reversal medication and its availability, the better things will get. It may have taken 32 years, but Rotary and its 1.8 million members worldwide helped eradicate polio worldwide. Things can be done to help with illicit drug-related overdoses. His advice to everyone:
“Keep your eyes open.”
And as Kenemore and others note during Project SMART® meetings, having an ODRescue Box helps too.
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