The Arkansas Opioid Recovery Partnership (ARORP) has released ReviveAR, an app designed to prevent and treat opioid abuse in Arkansas. It is now available for download on the Google Play and Apple app stores. ARORP’s leadership made the announcement during a February 20 press conference at the Arkansas Municipal League’s North Little Rock headquarters.

With more than $23 million in funding to date for opioid abatement and treatment in Arkansas coming from settlement money from the state’s historic litigation against opioid manufacturers and distributors, ARORP’s free ReviveAR app is designed to help users recognize the signs of an opioid overdose, offers step-by-step instructions on how to administer Naloxone and connects users with treatment options.

In the first half of 2023 alone, 45 people died from opioid-related overdose in Pulaski County. Unless Arkansas fights back, that number will only increase in 2024, said Kirk Lane, director for the Arkansas Opioid Recovery Partnership. “The number of drug overdose deaths are rising at a rapid rate in Arkansas, and opioid overdoses account for more than half of them. Our priority has always been the health and wellbeing of Arkansans, and this innovative solution marks a significant step forward in our efforts to combat the opioid crisis and save lives.”

Arkansas is doing more than any other state in the country to address the crisis, said League Executive Director Mark Hayes, a member of ARORP’s leadership team. “The work we’re doing in this partnership is so complete and so good for the state of Arkansas, and I’m so very proud to be a part of it,” he said. “We’ve taken the approach that whatever help a particular place needs, that’s the gap we’ll fill. If it’s a need for detox beds, then we’re going to look at that. If it’s a need for rehab space, then we’re going to look at that. If it’s a need for education, we’re going to look at that. And if it’s a need for Narcan—naloxone—then we’re going to definitely address that as well.”

Transparency is at the heart of ARORP’s mission, Lane said, and the website and the new app provide a direct look at how the settlement money is being spent across the state. “It is a handheld resource that anybody in the state of Arkansas and beyond can see exactly what we’re doing. Not only does it provide resources for reviving somebody from an opioid overdose, but it also actually revives people by giving you step-by-step instructions in English, Spanish and Marshallese. It also expands treatment aspects that we’re working on. Anything and everything about what we have funded and the partners that we have is right there in the palm of your hand.”

For more information about ARORP’s mission or how to navigate the ReviveAR app, visit ARORP.org.