Newhouse provides ‘toolkit’ for people fighting fentanyl

YAKIMA — U.S. Congressman Dan Newhouse (R-Fourth District) has published a list for people looking for resources to help them deal with fentanyl use. 

“The fentanyl crisis touches every corner of our communities, and we must work together to prevent opioid overdose,” Newhouse wrote in a release announcing what he called the “fentanyl resource toolkit.” 

The resource list was released after the report of a task force chaired by Newhouse looking into fentanyl abuse in the Fourth District. 

“I can’t tell you that it’s worse in Central Washington than other places, but I know it’s as serious as other places. It’s as serious in some of our communities,” he said in an earlier interview.  

The Washington Department of Health has a list of signs and symptoms of opioid overdose, along with directions in how to respond. That’s among the resources on the toolkit list, which is available at Central Washington Opioid Overdose and Fentanyl Resource Tool Kit | Congressman Dan Newhouse. 

Washington residents can receive free doses of Naloxone, also known as Narcan. A mail-order form is included in the toolkit. 

Most of the information is links to local resources throughout the Fourth District, which includes Grant, Okanogan, Douglas, Yakima, Benton, Franklin and Klickitat counties.  

Resources include treatment options for physical and mental health. There are treatment facilities in Wenatchee, Tri-Cities and Yakima; mental health treatment resources in Okanogan and Grant counties; programs for tribal patients in Toppenish and Nespelem. Some offer telehealth treatment options, while others provide inpatient care. Others are extended care facilities. Some provide a mix of inpatient and outpatient services. 

Newhouse said he wanted to learn more about the impact of fentanyl after talking to a Yakima man who lost two sons to overdoses. He introduced legislation to address the sale of fentanyl to individuals, he said, but realized there was more to fentanyl than that. 

“But the more we looked into that, the more we realized this is a very complex issue. A lot of moving parts here, a lot of things that need to be addressed, some at the federal level, of course, many at the state and local level,” he said. 

The goal of the task force and the toolkit is to give people a list of options available to them locally, he said. 

“Certainly, there’s going to be some funding required for many parts of this. But I think the most important thing the task force looked at was, what are some of things that we can do, what are some parts of the solution that we can address? And if there are things that communities think are important and would work for them, then we can work on making that a reality.”