Dekalb County Hosts Free Narcan Training

The Dekalb Prevention Coalition is hosting a free Narcan training Tuesday.

Regional Overdose Prevention Specialist Suzanne Angel said Narcan is used to prevent an opioid overdose.

“The Surgeon General of the United States encourages us all to know how to respond to an opioid overdose because it is the number one cause of accidental death in the United States. It’s the number one cause of death in people under the age of 50, and in 2018 more people died of accidental overdose than Americans died in the Vietnam War,” Angel said.

She added the CDC estimates 197 people die of accidental overdose every day, and 130 of those are opioid related.

Opioids attach to our pain receptors, depress the central nervous system, and release physical and emotional pain. Angel said if you take too much, mix with alcohol or other medications, you could stop breathing.

“What Noloxone [Narcan] does is it’s an opioid overdose reversal medication. It temporarily knocks those opioids off those pain receptors for anywhere from 20 to 90 minutes,”Angel said. “Even though it does sometimes work, it works about 93% of the time if you get to someone in time, it is temporary so you’re always going to call an ambulance.”

Noloxone only works on opioid medication, but Angel said it won’t harm someone if they don’t have opioids in their system.

The Dekalb coalition will meet at the county complex at 10:30 a.m. and will provide free Narcan kits.