© 2024 Ideastream Public Media

1375 Euclid Avenue, Cleveland, Ohio 44115
(216) 916-6100 | (877) 399-3307

WKSU is a public media service licensed to Kent State University and operated by Ideastream Public Media.
Play Live Radio
Next Up:
0:00
0:00
0:00 0:00
Available On Air Stations
00000174-c556-d691-a376-cdd69e980000Day after day, week after week, the headlines in Northeast Ohio and across much of the country contain news of tragic loss: lives lost to opioids. It’s a problem that knows no bounds: geography, race, gender, level of education or income.The problem took on new urgency this summer as the powerful elephant sedative, Carfentanil, began hitting the streets. First responders armed with their only weapon, the overdose antidote Naloxone, have struggled to keep up with what’s become an overwhelming problem. It’s an issue that’s straining public and social resources. What has become clear is that business as usual is not going to fix the problem.WKSU news has been covering the unfolding crisis. Tuesdays during Morning Edition, the WKSU news team digs even deeper. WKSU reporters will examine what’s led us here and what might be done to turn the tide. Support for Opioids: Turning the Tide in the Crisis comes from Wayne Savings Community Bank, Kent State University Office of Continuing and Distance Education, Hometown Grocery Delivery, Mercy Medical Center, AxessPointe Community Health Center, Community Support Services, Inc., Medina County District Library and Hudson Community First.00000174-c556-d691-a376-cdd69e980001

Stark County Company Develops Gloves That Are Resistant to Fentanyl

photo of ResQ-Grip gloves
PH&S PRODUCTS

A Stark County company has come up with a glove that's resistant to fentanyl -- one of the drugs that first responders have increasingly been exposed to when treating opioid overdose victims.

This past summer, at least two police officers in Northeast Ohio reported being sickened by exposure to fentanyl during drug busts. Now, PH&S Products in Minerva says it has a solution. The company makes nitrile examination gloves, which look and feel like the ones used by physicians. The company says it's making a new type of glove with a compound that is resistant to fentanyl.

Company spokesman Matt Fox says the "ResQ-Grip" gloves were created as a response to the growing opioid problem in Ohio.

“There’s a lot of different nitrile mixes [so] that you can have a different type of glove with different chemical compounds. But they wanted to find the one that would be the most resistant – the toughest they could find.

“[First responders are] the folks that show up on the scene right away and they’re basically going in there unprotected. We should try to find a glove that has the right chemical compound that we can help them be protected against those kinds of drugs. I would say this process took about two years for us to develop this glove.”

Fox adds that the gloves proved resistant to fentanyl even when immersed in the drug for up to six hours. He'll be demonstrating them this weekend at an annual conference for police chiefs taking place in Philadelphia.

Kabir Bhatia is a senior reporter for Ideastream Public Media's arts & culture team.