The small white box hanging in the security office of the Woonsocket Housing Authority might not look like much to the casual observer, but according to Berta Leone of the Blackstone Valley Prevention Coalition, it might just save someone’s life.
The NaloxBox, as it’s called, is one of six installed in all of the WHA’s housing developments last week as part of a new effort by the WHA and the Blackstone Valley Prevention Coalition to prevent opioid overdose deaths around the city. Each box contains eight doses of naloxone, the emergency drug used to treat opioid overdoses.
The boxes were designed by a Brown University researcher and funded through grants from the Department of Health and the Department of Behavioral Healthcare, Developmental Disabilities and Hospitals. According to Leone, it’s the first time the boxes were installed in public housing developments within the state.