What's a ONEbox? Eastern NC counties roll out opioid epidemic fighting tool

Two eastern North Carolina counties have adopted a new way of addressing the opioid crisis, which comes in the form of small purple boxes called ONEbox.

ONEbox is an emergency kit that contains doses of naloxone, a nasal spray that can rapidly reverse the effects of opioid overdose. The kit walks the user through how to administer the medicine in a crisis.

Wilson County was the first to roll out the ONEbox, and they've been placed in 78 locations so far to make them accessible to anyone.

Tiffany Hux said Narcan saved her life.

"I'm glad it did. I am so glad. If not, I wouldn't be here for my two-year-old child," Hux said.

Hux has been clean for 10 months after using heroin on and off for five years.

She's overdosed more than once.

"It can happen everywhere," she said. "You never know who it will happen to, who it will happen with and where it will happen."

Jeff Hill, executive director of the Wilson County Substance Coalition, said the ONEbox is all about making naloxone, or Narcan, more accessible.

"We are past the point as a community that we can depend on a handful of people who can save lives. We have to be a community full of people who can save lives," he said.

The Community Paramedic Program in Edgecombe County is also working to roll out the boxes, installing a ONEbox in Larema Coffee House in downtown Rocky Mount.

Larema Coffee's owner, Kevin McLaughlin, said he hopes it will help prepare his customers and employees in a crisis.

"Instead of thinking, this would never happen here or to someone we know or see," he said. "It can happen. It does happen. Every day. It is better to be prepared for than not."

When the box is opened, users first hear a reminder to calm down.

From there, instructions walk users through how to use the overdose-reversing medicine.

"I can train you as many times as I want, but I do not know how you will react in that moment. If I can give you a tool that can walk you through that process and create that sense of calm, you've got a better chance of saving that life," Hill said.

Even though she is now clean, Tiffany said she will keep the tool around just in case.

"I keep Narcan here. Even if I'm not getting high anymore, I keep it here. Just in case I have a friend who calls me and needs it," she said.