A North Texas-based team behind the area’s first Narcan vending machines is rolling out a new set of smaller, 3-D printed dispensers amid expanding access to the lifesaving overdose medication.
The project began with Anthony Delabano, co-founder of the nonprofit Conscious Conduit, and Cynthia Pursley, President of LIVEGY, the nonprofit providing opioid addiction assistance.
The first large-scale Narcan vending machines installed in North Texas before expanding to 33 machines across other states including New Mexico, Louisiana, North Carolina and Arkansas.
Over the program’s lifetime, Delabano and Pursley say they learned that the first generation of larger scale machines have been effective but are harder to fit into smaller spaces.
“One thing that I noticed personally is that the large vending machines that we were using are beautiful, the concept's great, but they're large,” Delabano said. “They don’t fit in small spaces so we decided, we can possibly develop our own vending machine.”
That led to the creation of a newer, 3-D printed version of the machines.
The smaller machines can be mounted on walls and refilled with medication through a magnetic faceplate. It also includes a QR code that was recently added to the machines that connect people to overdose education resources, addiction support and Narcan training.
The expansion coincides with this weekend’s Band Crawl Against Fentanyl in Deep Ellum. The event on Oct. 18 combines live music with overdose response training and Narcan distribution.
“We’ll have as many as four or five hundred Narcan there, but we’ll be distributing and training, and there’ll be a lot of staff that can show people how to use it,” said Pursley. “It’s a way to blend such a serious subject with people in a fun way. And it was very successful last year, that’s why we’re doing it again.”
In addition to expanding the machine’s reach, the team has started focusing more heavily on education. Delabano and Pursley regularly bring overdose awareness into schools and youth programs across the state.
Delabano says when they first began outreach efforts, schools were hesitant.
“Two years ago, schools said, no, you can’t come and talk to my kids,” Pursley said. “Now more schools are asking for us to come and visit with them because they want their kids to stay safe and be better prepared.”
Even as attitudes shift, Delabano and Pursley say stigma still sometimes slows the public’s perception of addiction and recovery.
“In Texas especially, some of these things are a little bit slower and it's because there’s a lot of concern around supporting usage,” said Delabano. “But for somebody that has been in addiction before, you know, that concept is like, ‘We just want to survive.’”
As overdose deaths continue to climb, the team hopes its work will continue to inspire more accessible overdose response strategies across the state. The group plans to install the next batches of vending machines thanks to grants from city governments.
“At the end of the day, everyone has the same goal,” said Pursley. “Everyone wants to save lives.”
Emmanuel Rivas Valenzuela is KERA's breaking news reporter. Got a tip? Email Emmanuel at erivas@kera.org.
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