In response to the growing heroin epidemic on Long Island, Nassau County Legislator Delia DeRiggi-Whitton (D-Glen Cove) is co-hosting a Narcan training session in Port Washington on June 1.
The training session, part of a county-wide effort to train residents how to administer the overdose antidote, will be held from 7 p.m. to 9 p.m. at Paul D. Schreiber High School, located at 101 Campus Drive.
“I have met a number of people through these training sessions and other meetings whose children are honors students, athletes and boy/girl scouts from very good, nurturing families who became addicted to heroin so easily,” DeRiggi-Whitton said.
Nassau County Executive Edward Mangano launched the training program in September to teach citizens the signs of an opioid overdose and how to reverse its effects in response to the growing number of heroin overdoses and deaths on Long Island.
In addition to training personnel, officials said Nassau County has hosted more than 70 events and trained more than 4,000 members of the public to administer Narcan, a brand of the opioid overdose antidote naloxone hydrochloride, since becoming the first county in the state outside New York City to have a state-certified Overdose Responder Program in late 2012.
Naloxone can be administered through a nasal spray and works by attaching itself to the opioid receptors in the brain, protecting the person from the opioids that were ingested.
Through Narcan training seminars, residents can learn how and when to administer the life-saving antidote that can reverse the fatal effects of an opioid overdose and save a person’s life. All trainees receive Narcan free at the end of the training.
Officials said dozens of civilian trainees have already saved the lives of overdosing people.
“They all say, ‘If it happened in my family, it can happen in anyone’s,’” DeRiggi-Whitton said.
More than 498 people have died from opioid overdoses in Nassau County since 2011, according to the Center for Disease Control.
The county saw a record 58 fatal heroin overdoses in 2015, according to data from the county medical examiner’s office.
Government officials said they are fighting to stop drug sales and usage and that although deaths from overdoses are increasing, they are not growing at the same rate as usage.
Officials said this is due to the efforts of Nassau and Suffolk counties’ mandatory training of all medical and police staff in administering Narcan. Officials have said Nassau County police administered 416 doses of Narcan last year.
Mangano and Suffolk County Executive Steve Bellone have also established the Long Island Heroin Task Force, a joint effort between the counties’ police departments to dismantle drug rings.
Anyone 18 or older can register for the training, which also covers warning signs of drug addiction and other important information.
To register for the June 1 training session, email to elaikin@nassaucountyny.gov or call 516-571-6105.
Those registering should include their name, email address and the June 1 training date, as there are other sessions taking place each month across Long Island.
For general information about this program visit nassaucountyny.gov/overdose.
