Public Health Kiosk - Harm Reduction Supplies
Oneida County Health Department collaborated with Community Health & Behavioral Services and ACR Health to install a “Public Health Kiosk”- the first-of-its-kind in the US. SMRT1 Technology interactive dispensing system with FREE harm reduction and wellness supplies for the community - at the Giotto Center site at 1002 Oswego St., Utica.
Using touchscreen technology, it provides easy, 24/7 outdoor access to free overdose prevention resources in combination with rolling public health educational videos and a resource directory and map for local health and human services. The kiosk has free Narcan, Fentanyl Test Strips, Wound Care Kits and COVID-19 Test Kits. In the future, other wellness supplies may be added.
There is a quick one-time, anonymous, point of site registration that takes ~30 seconds. No personal information is collected. Providers are encouraged to make employees, patients and their family members aware of this new innovative and free resource available to the community.
Fentanyl has changed the way we need to respond to the overdose epidemic: it’s being mixed in every type of street drug (including non-opioids such as cocaine, methamphetamine, and counterfeit prescription pills) in unknown toxic amounts and it takes just one time to kill. More than ever, communities need easy access to harm reduction supplies such as Naloxone (or brand name Narcan). Help spread the word!