Free medical kiosks offer naloxone, COVID tests - QCity Metro

Oct 30, 2024

Mecklenburg County Public Health unveiled two new medical kiosks on Monday.

The kiosks will hold Naloxone, a medicine used to reverse opioid overdoses, COVID tests and condoms, which will all be available for free.

“This is an innovative way to expand access to these harm reduction tools for our residents,” Raynard Washington, Mecklenburg County Public Health Director, said in a statement. “The kiosks will allow us to reach more residents while creating efficiencies for both residents and our staff.”

Why it matters: Overdoses are up in Mecklenburg County QCity Metro previously reported last September that nearly 140 people died from drug overdoses in 2023 — a 20% increase from 2022.

Washington said the medical supplies were chosen to address some of the most prevalent concerns throughout Mecklenburg County: the opioid crisis, STIs and COVID.

“These harm reduction tools are critically important in our work to fight infectious illness in this community,” Washington said. “These are some of the most important issues that we’re tackling.”

The first kiosk is located inside the Ella B. Scarborough Community Resource Center, located at 430 Stitt Road, Charlotte.

The second medical supply kiosk will be installed outside the Valerie C. Woodard Community Resource Center in November, according to Washington.

Washington told QCity Metro the second kiosk will be outside to make the medical supplies more accessible to those in need of them.

“We wanna make access as easy possible for folks,” Washington said.

Residents must register with their phones for verification to receive the medical supplies while at the machine. Registration will also allow for any pending or needed follow-up appointments.

Eventually, Washington said, at-home STIs tests will be added to the vending machines.

The vending machines were funded through a mix of local funding, including Mecklenburg County’s opioid settlement funds, according to Washington.

These two vending machines aren’t the only ones in Mecklenburg County.

“We’re not the first to do it,” Washington said.

QCity Metro reported last November that the Mecklenburg County Sheriff’s Office, in collaboration with Carolinas CARE Partnership, a local center for LGBTQ+ communities and people living with HIV, also offers free Narcan nasal spray kits through a public vending machine inside the Mecklenburg County Sheriff’s Arrest Processing Center lobby area, located at 801 E. 4th Street, Charlotte.

A fifth vending machine disbursing Naloxone is currently located at Roof Above, an interfaith homeless shelter.

Despite this, Lauren Kestner, director of Queen City Harm Reduction, a local nonprofit, says there are still barriers to accessing the life-saving medication — especially for the homeless population.

“People who are unhoused and who are chronically homeless – and who use drugs – are also at a higher risk of overdose and need easy access to naloxone. In general, no one should have to navigate a massive county and city to access naloxone. The unhoused population is up against many barriers.,” said in a statement to QCity Metro.

Some barriers, Kestner said, include mistrust between people who are homeless and who use drugs, and providers due to “stigma and biases that silo communities.” Another barrier is access to transportation.

“If you live in your car in southwest Mecklenburg, it can take up to 40 [minutes] by car and up to 4 hours to walk across town,” Kestner said about accessing Naloxone.

Kestner called the vending machines a “step in the right direction,” but also said “there is so much more work to be done to truly support a person’s wellbeing and long-term sustainability.”

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