Quick Response Team hosts opioid outreach event
Sep. 8—FAIRMONT — Marion County's Quick Response Team is on a mission to Save a Life.
Sept. 8 has been dubbed Save a Life Day in each of West Virginia's 55 counties and aims to provide life-saving naloxone to help those living with substance use disorder.
QRT will be giving out resources, "swag bags" and naloxone in 13 different locations around the county today. In addition, community members will be taught how to use naloxone, or it's brand name, narcan, and explain why the drug is important.
Swag bags will be available at the peer recovery center Friendship Fairmont, East Side Family Dollar and Rambling Root, and the Fairmont Avenue Burger King from 10 a.m. to 6 p.m. Others can stop by the Marion County Rescue Squad and Whitehall Pharmacy from 10 a.m. to 1 p.m.; Carter's Cafe from 11 a.m. to 3 p.m.; Salvation Army Thrift Store from 10 a.m. to 5 p.m.; Farmington Family Dollar, Kingmont Family Dollar, Monongah Family Dollar and Middletown Commons Hardee's from 2 p.m. to 6 p.m. and Grant Town EMS from 10 a.m. to 2 p.m. to pick up naloxone and other supplies.
Narcan is an opioid overdose reversal medication. Similar to CPR, it can be given in response to an overdose. The drug can be administered prior to EMS arriving to an overdose and increases the patient's chances of survival, QRT employees said.
One of the QRT's primary functions is to respond to non-fatal overdoses within the first 24 to 72 hours. Marion County QRT Team Coordinator Maxine Harker recounts one visit in which narcan helped save a boy's life.
"We went to one, it took us 45 minutes to get to their driveway. Had his mom not had that narcan on hand — to be unresponsive and barely breathing for 45 minutes — his chances of a full recovery were slim to none. So the idea (for Save a Life Day), is to spread education and awareness, but also to be able to provide people the tools needed when they're in emergency situations like that," Harker said.
Marion County QRT Grant Coordinator Raven Berkey agreed.
"Every second matters and every life matters, so being able to distribute narcan in the community and educate the community on narcan, the more lives we're going to be able to save," Berkey said.
In West Virginia in 2021, the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention determined fatal overdoses claimed more than 1,417 West Virginia lives, with 1,201 attributed to opioids. Berkey and Harker said they don't know how many Marion County residents are currently in active addition because each case is so different.
"It's very much so a form of prevention. So when you look at it, you know, what are the chances of you stumbling upon a person that may be experiencing an overdose or displaying signs of an overdose? You know, we're not looking at it like, what are the chances of that? We're looking at it like, can I have this on me? Can our teachers? Can our children? Can they have it on them? Just in case?," Berkey said.
Harker agreed.
"Just like CPR, like I'm CPR trained. I don't wake up every day and go looking for people that need CPR, but if I would need to use it, I have it," Harker said.
Berkey said they have been planning this event since April 2022. Harker oversaw the planning and had help from volunteers including Communities of Shalom, West Virginia Prevention Solutions and others around the county.
Those who can't make it out to one of the locations, can still reach out to the QRT, which is located in the Marion County Health Department, and they can provide community members naloxone and other resources at any time, Harker said.
Children ages 16 to 18 are also able to receive naloxone and training, with permission of a parent or guardian.
For more information, visit their Facebook or call the Marion County Health Department at 304-366-3360.
Reach me at sshriver@timeswv.com or 304-367-2549.
