Portsmouth, New Hampshire – Portsmouth Regional Hospital, Seabrook Emergency Room, and Dover Emergency Room will host “Crush the Crisis,” an opioid take-back event that will allow the community to safely dispose of unused or expired opioid medications.
The event will take place Saturday, September 7 from 10:00 am to 2:00 pm as follows:
- Portsmouth Regional Hospital, 333 Borthwick Ave., Portsmouth
- The collection will be located in the hospital lobby.
- Seabrook Emergency Room, 603 Lafayette Road, Seabrook
- The collection will be conveniently located at the patient drive-through. In the event of rain, drop-off will be held in the Seabrook Emergency Room lobby
- Dover Emergency Room, 10 Central Ave. Dover
- The collection will be conveniently located at the patient drive-through. In the event of rain, drop-off will be held in the Dover Emergency Room lobby.
Law enforcement officers from the Portsmouth, Seabrook, and Dover Police Departments will be on-site at each corresponding facility to assist with the collection and disposal of unused medications.
“Opioid addiction is a growing crisis not only in on the Seacoast, but across our nation,” said Thomas Wold, D.O., chief medical officer of Portsmouth Regional Hospital. “Our goal for ‘Crush the Crisis’ is to raise awareness of the dangers of opioid addiction and educate our community about the proper disposal of these medications. Opioid addiction can happen to anyone and we are providing this drop off opportunity confidentially and anonymously.”
Volunteers will be collecting tablets, capsules and patches of Hydrocodone (Norco, Lortab, Vicodin), Oxycodone (Oxycontin, Percocet), Tramadol (Ultram), Codeine, Fentanyl (Duragesic), Morphine, Hydromorphone (Dilaudid) and Oxymorphone (Opana). Needles, syringes, lancets or liquids will not be accepted.
According to the National Institute of Health’s National Institute on Drug Abuse, New Hampshire is among the top five states with the highest rate of opioid-involved deaths. In 2017, there were 424 drug overdose deaths involving opioids in New Hampshire—an age-adjusted rate of 34.0 deaths per 100,000 persons. This was more than twice the average national rate of 14.6 deaths per 100,000 persons. A significant increase was seen in cases involving synthetic opioids other than methadone (mainly fentanyl) with a rise from 30 deaths in 2013 to 374 deaths in 2017. Overdose deaths involving heroin declined from 98 deaths in 2014 to 28 deaths in 2017 and those involving prescription opioids also decreased from 103 deaths to 62 deaths during the same period.
Portsmouth Regional Hospital, Seabrook Emergency Room, and Dover Emergency Room are participating as part of HCA Healthcare’s first national “Crush the Crisis” opioid take back day. More than 65 HCA Healthcare facilities across 15 states are uniting to collect unused or expired opioids for one day.
To further help combat the nation’s opioid crisis, HCA Healthcare, the parent company of Portsmouth Regional Hospital, Seabrook Emergency Room, and Dover Emergency Room proudly partners with the National Academy of Medicine’s Action Collaborative on Countering the U.S. Opioid Epidemic, consisting of more than 50 organizations that share best practices and identify gaps in the safe treatment of opioid addiction.
For more information, visit Portsmouth Regional Hospital’s Facebook page or contact Ann Williams, Director of Pharmacy at (603) 433-5108.