(Radio Iowa) – Marshalltown plans to install a free public Narcan dispenser next week, a box that represents a huge step in the city’s ongoing opioid awareness campaign. The city and its Youth and Shelter Services branch hope the free public access to the overdose-reversing drug will complement its existing community policing initiatives. David Hicks, the Y-S-S Director of Community Engagement for Marshall County, says it’s only the eighth free Narcan box in the state.

Hicks says the box will be placed outside the Y-S-S building. He says it helps everybody in the city, from its police force to its hospitals to its taxpayers.

Y-S-S has embedded two social workers within Marshalltown’s police force and has brought on a dedicated addiction counselor.