CLARION, Pa. (EYT) — As the Opioid crisis in the United State continues, the Armstrong-Indiana-Clarion Drug & Alcohol Commission is trying to equip the local community to handle the situation if an overdose occurs.
One of the ways they are doing this is by offering free training classes in the administration of Naloxone — also known by one of its brand names Narcan — a drug that helps reverse the effects of the overdose.
“We are doing a series of public Naloxone trainings,” Jill Northey a Presentation Specialist in the Clarion Office of the Commission, said. “We held our first one August 2 in Knox. Anyone can come and get trained, and once they are trained, we distribute kits to them. The kits have two does in a box. When someone goes through training, they are leaving with two doses, and we are hoping that when someone comes across an overdose that will be enough to help until EMS arrives.”
The next public training session is at 6:00 p.m. on Monday, August 6, at the Farmington Township Firehall in Leeper. Then, at 6:00 p.m. on August 29, there is one at the Rimersburg Community Building, and then a third one will be held at 6:00 p.m. on September 12 at the SMI Building in Strattanville.
Northey said one of the reasons her office is offering the classes, which are free and open to anyone in the community, is because it has seen an increase in overdoses in Clarion County.
“We are partnering with (Clarion County) coroner Randall Stom’s office,” Northey said. “We not only show them how to administer the medication, we talk about what is going on to give them an awareness of the issue.”
According to Northey, administering Naloxone is easy.
“It is very easy to use,” Northey said. “No medical background is needed. It is a nasal spray. There is no assembly required and no needles involved.”
If someone can’t make one of the classes, they can also receive the training and receive a free Naloxone kit by scheduling an appointment between 8:00 a.m. and 4:00 p.m. Monday through Friday with a Case Manager or Certified Recovery Specialist at one of the three local locations for the Drug & Alcohol Commission — Clarion (814-226-6350), Indiana (724-463-7860) and Kittanning (724-545-1614).
According to the National Institute on Drug Abuse, Naloxone is “a medication designed to rapidly reverse opioid overdose. It is an opioid antagonist—meaning that it binds to opioid receptors and can reverse and block the effects of other opioids. It can very quickly restore normal respiration to a person whose breathing has slowed or stopped as a result of overdosing with heroin or prescription opioid pain medications.”
