Health Department launches overdose death prevention app

The Springfield-Greene County Health Department has launched an app designed to reduce deaths from opioid overdoses.

Called Revive, the app provides resources and lifesaving guidance, according to a news release. The app also shows where in the city people can obtain Narcan, or naloxone, a treatment for narcotic overdoses.

"Overdoses from opioids, including fentanyl, can be reversed using the life-saving medication naloxone," officials said in the release. "Revive allows people to find naloxone to carry with them and guides them through its proper use if the need arises. The app will provide written, verbal and visual step-by-step guidance to those responding to a drug overdose."

Health Department Public Health Information Administrator Aaron Schekorra said Revive was developed in-house utilizing app development platform GoodBarber at a cost of $600. He said the department would market the app through ads and through printed materials distributed to businesses and organizations.

The drug overdose mortality rate is more than 25% higher in Greene, Christian, and Webster counties than the rest of the United States, according to the 2022 Community Health Needs Assessment. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention data show opioids were involved in nearly 75% of drug overdose deaths nationwide in 2020, according to the release.

The Health Department partnered with Southwest Missouri Drug Poisoning Coalition and Community Partnership of the Ozarks, among other organizations, to develop the content for Revive.

The Health Department recently was chosen for a nearly $112,000 Overdose through Community Approaches Mentorship grant from the National Association of County and City Health Officials, according to past reporting.