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Fighting opioid addiction by making the antidote available to all

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The opioid epidemic has torn apart communities across the country. One city has decided to take what some might call extraordinary measures to help fight fatal overdoses and save lives. Baltimore now has a program that makes the fast-acting opioid antidote naloxone, or Narcan, available to every resident in the city.

This week on WRVO's health and wellness show "Take Care," hosts Lorraine Rapp and Linda Lowen speak with Dr. Leana Wen, Baltimore's health commissioner and an emergency medicine physician, about why she feels the problem of heroin addiction makes this program necessary.

More about the heroin antidote narcan can be heard on "Take Care," WRVO's health and wellness show Saturday at 6:30 a.m. and Sunday at 6:30 p.m. Support for this story comes from the Health Foundation for Western and Central New York.

WRVO is now well into its second year without federal funding. Through it all, our mission has stayed the same: serving central and upstate New York with trusted journalism, vital local coverage, and the diverse programming that informs and connects our communities. Listeners like you are what keep journalists on the ground, asking the hard questions that matter to our region.

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