Answer Addiction

Tag: narcan training

  • Harm Reduction Educator Who Trained Thousands To Use Narcan Loses Addiction Battle

    Harm Reduction Educator Who Trained Thousands To Use Narcan Loses Addiction Battle

    Kevin Donovan died on September 28 at the age of 40.

    The Syracuse harm reduction community is mourning the loss of advocate and educator Kevin Donovan, who died in late September of an apparent overdose.

    According to his obituary, “He lost his battle with addiction following a long-term recovery.”

    Donovan trained many in his community how to administer Narcan, a brand of naloxone, the opioid overdose-reversing drug.

    Saving Lives

    Will Murtaugh, executive director of ACR Health, said that more than 500 people that were trained by Donovan used their Narcan training. “That means, 500 people’s lives were reversed,” he said, according to WRVO.

    ACR Health is a community health center with a syringe exchange and a Drug User Health Hub which offers a range of prevention and sexual health services to people of all ages. Donovan was also the founder and director of Healing Hearts Collaborative, an opioid overdose prevention program.

    Kevin’s work was informed by his own experience in recovery. “To remove the stigma of the disease, he openly shared his struggles with addiction to educate others of treatment options, and he was a staunch advocate for the use of Narcan,” read his obituary.

    Colleagues Speak Out

    According to Murtaugh, Kevin did not seek help at his time of need despite having a supportive community around him.

    “We’re all hurting a little bit, because he knows we were here for him and he could’ve come to us anytime and got that support,” he said. “This is a typical overdose. We’ve had many of them. People end up using alone, and they die alone, because they don’t have those supports around them that they need. We try, and Kevin did too, to educate everyone. Do not use alone. Do a test shot. Make sure that there is Narcan in the house.”

    ACR Health lost two other staff members in 2016 and 2017.

    The center supports having supervised injection facilities, also known as overdose prevention facilities, to give people a place to use under medical supervision where they can access treatment if they feel ready.

    Safe Consumption Sites

    A federal judge recently ruled that such facilities would not violate federal law, which the current administration tried to argue against in court. An organization in Philadelphia was on the other side of the legal fight. It now has the green light to move forward with plans to establish what would be the first overdose prevention site in the United States.

    In May, Donovan was featured by WRVO for giving the Narcan training that saved a woman’s life. The woman became unresponsive inside a local business and staff members responded by administering Narcan. She was revived by the time EMT arrived.

    “What made me really happy was their willingness to share their story, and to say, this is a positive thing we want to do for our community,” said Donovan at the time. “That’s a life. The stigma is so bad, sometimes this stuff happens, and people don’t want to share it, or want anything to do with it in the public vision.”

    Kevin Donovan died on September 28 at the age of 40. He is survived by his son Rowan, his parents, brother and extended family.

    View the original article at thefix.com

  • Should Narcan Training Be The New CPR?

    Should Narcan Training Be The New CPR?

    “Who should carry Narcan? The same people who should carry an EpiPen: anyone who’s around someone who might need it. And, in today’s opioid crisis, that’s nearly everyone.”

    Each year, 12 million Americans are trained to deliver lifesaving CPR. Vastly fewer are trained to use the opioid overdose reversing drug, Narcan. 

    Dr. Mark Calarco, national medical director for clinical diagnostics of American Addiction Centers, says that we need to make Narcan training the new CPR, getting more people to carry the lifesaving drug and administer it in emergencies. 

    “With tens of thousands of American lives lost each year to drug overdose, it’s critical that we begin training Americans to administer Narcan (naloxone), just as we did with CPR, to help save the lives of our neighbors, family members and friends,” Calarco writes for MedCity News.

    Surgeon General Wants All Americans To Carry Narcan

    In April, Surgeon General Jerome Adams called on all Americans to carry Narcan and learn how to use it. 

    “We should think of naloxone like an EpiPen or CPR. Unfortunately, over half of the overdoses that are occurring are occurring in homes, so we want everyone to be armed to respond,” Adams told NPR at the time. 

    Stigma Persists

    And yet, stigma against mental illness and addiction has kept this from happening, Calarco writes. 

    “While there’s some controversy over making Narcan so readily and widely available, the reluctance is based mostly on the stigma associated with addiction and mental health issues, and an overall lack of understanding about how addiction impacts an individual and the community. The truth is, addiction and overdose can affect anyone. It doesn’t discriminate based on income, gender, ethnicity, or background,” he writes.

    While Calarco says he would “encourage everyone to take a CPR course,” he noted that CPR is physically taxing and difficult to learn, and 45% of people who need it will die from their condition anyway. 

    “In contrast, administering naloxone (Narcan) is relatively easy for non-medical personnel, and giving it quickly after an opioid overdose rapidly reverses respiratory depression—the primary cause of death. It is extremely safe, effective, and works in seconds,” Calarco writes. 

    Forty-nine states allow anyone to carry and administer Narcan. In most areas, getting trained is as simple as going to your pharmacy, asking for a kit (which is usually covered by insurance) and listening to the pharmacist for a few minutes. This is a step everyone should take, Calarco writes.

    Saving Lives

    “Who exactly should carry Narcan? The same people who should carry an EpiPen: anyone who’s around someone who might need it. And, in today’s opioid crisis, that’s nearly everyone.”

    Taking this small step could be lifesaving, he writes. 

    “Carry it with you at all times and hope you never have to use it,” Calarco writes. “But know that you could be the difference between life and death for someone if you do.”

    View the original article at thefix.com