UMass Memorial's opioid drop-box gets 530 pounds of medications

Photo | Courtesy An opioid medication disposal box was set up last fall at UMass Memorial Medical Center's University Campus last fall, and another has been added to the Memorial Campus.

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A year after UMass Memorial Medical Center in Worcester installed a drop-box to safely dispose of opioids, more than 530 pounds of medications have been safely discarded.

Now, the hospital has added a box at its Memorial Campus to go with the first box at its University Campus, the hospital's Opioid Crisis Task Force said in a new annual report.

The task force, which was formed in September 2018, has helped lead UMass Memorial's other opioid efforts, including training more than 40 emergency medicine physicians at the University, Memorial, Marlborough, and Clinton campuses on using Suboxone, a opioid addiction treatment medication. UMass Memorial has opened a clinic at 100 Century Drive in Worcester for patients to receive intensive addiction treatment.

Task force members have been making ongoing community outreach and education efforts, with more steps expected to help fight the opioid epidemic.

The task force said it hopes to distribute Naloxone, a opioid overdose antidote to UMass Memorial emergency departments, create a streamlined and more inclusive controlled substance agreement for outpatient use, and set a best-practice advisory for co-prescribing Naloxone for patients receiving high-dose opioids.