Free Naxolone being distributed today in all 55 W.Va. counties

Greg Jordan, Bluefield Daily Telegraph, W.Va.
·3 min read

Sep. 8—PRINCETON — Grocery stores, public libraries, fire stations, public parks and more became places in all 55 of West Virginia's counties Thursday to obtain free naloxone, which is used to help people suffering opioid overdoses, as part of the third annual Save a Life Day.

All 55 West Virginia counties banded together to host the largest day of free naloxone distribution in the state. In its third year, Save a Life Day included every county for the first time, organizers said.

Many people know naloxone by one of its brand names, Narcan. Narcan is an easy-to-use nasal spray with no adverse side effects that works to reverse opioid overdoses. Naloxone has been approved by the FDA for over 50 years, organizers said.

Family members, friends of people who take opioids for pain, friends of people who use drugs, and anyone who wanted to prepare to save a life were welcomed to naloxone training Thursday.

Community Connections, Inc. in Mercer County served as the lead contact for Save a Life Day in Monroe, Raleigh, and Summers Counties, and Southern Highlands Community Mental Health Center served as the lead contact for McDowell, Mercer, and Wyoming Counites. Various community prevention coalitions, faith-based groups, and business leaders served as key partners and site leaders for the event.

"It's going great," said Greg Puckett, executive director of Community Connections. He was still working to get local numbers of naloxone kits that were distributed. "The Bluefield and Bluewell locations were doing quite well. We had a lot of great participation today."

Puckett thanked Grants Supermarket for allowing the distribution of the medication at its stores.

"To have a corporate partner like Grants is extremely good, so it was a great opportunity," he said.

Besides distributing naloxone to help treat overdoses, Save a Life Day was also an opportunity to help people gripped by drug addiction find treatment, Puckett said.

Organizers planned to distribute over 10,000 naloxone doses throughout the day. There were more than 70 volunteers for this year's event in McDowell, Mercer, Monroe, Raleigh, Summers and Wyoming Counties.

Save a Life Day was made possible by support from the West Virginia Office of Drug Control Policy, which supplies the lion's share of the Narcan for the statewide event. Key logistics support also comes from the University of Charleston Pharmacy School and the WV Office of Maternal Child & Family Health.

This year's major sponsors included: Aetna Better Health of WV, Ayuda Medical, CareSource, CAMC Foundation, Community Connections, Inc., Unicare and the WV Drug Intervention Institute.

West Virginia lost an average of two family members to fatal overdoses each day in 2021, down from over three lives lost a day, on average, in 2020. This improvement is due in part to the expansion of free naloxone programs including Save a Life Day events, which started in 2020, organizers said.

The West Virginia Drug Intervention Institute was also providing over 10,000 fentanyl test strips across the state for free distribution at Save a Life Day events.

"At the WV DII our mission is to reduce overdose deaths in our state," said Dr. Susan Bissett, president of the WV Drug Intervention Institute. "We want people who are struggling with the disease of addiction, or taking illicit drugs recreationally, to not do drugs and access recovery resources, but we also need them to live long enough to do so. Fentanyl testing strips are just one more tool in our kit for preventing overdose deaths."

Contact Greg Jordan at gjordan@bdtonline.com