Naloxone kits in demand on Save a Life Day
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Two separate overdose-related deaths at Ole Miss on Monday might have fueled interest in the Monongalia County Quick Response Team's Save a Life Day on Thursday, as WVU students scooped up free two-dose kits of naloxone faster than anticipated.
Jacob Workman of Monongalia County Health Department, the QRT's data improvement coordinator, noted that the site where he was tabling at the WVU Robert C. Byrd Health Sciences Center had handed out nearly 100 two-dose naloxone kits before noon.
Also, he said, sites at both the WVU Mountainlair and the Monongalia County Courthouse plaza had experienced very busy mornings, with 360 two-dose kits distributed at each before noon.
"We think it's because of what happened at Ole Miss," he said.
By 1 p.m., the Mountainlair's distribution number had grown to 624 two-dose kits, nearly one-third of the 2,000 kits available for the entire event. QRT member Teisha Prim, a PEERS supervisor at West Virginia Sober Living, announced that she had started to hand out some of WVSL's supply before her doses were replenished.
Kera Duggan, a School of Nursing student from Philadelphia, said that a message was sent out to members of her sorority, Chi Omega, urging students to take advantage of Save a Life Day in response to the incident.
"It's common for overdoses to happen at a school," Duggan said, who added that's what prompted her to stop by the table at the Health Sciences Center and talk to Workman, who described how to administer the easy-to-use Narcan brand nose spray version of naloxone.
Naloxone reverses the effect of an opioid overdose, and it's also advised that individuals who give it to someone also call 911 to get emergency services at the site.
Formed in 2019 with grant funds obtained by Monongalia County Health Department, the Monongalia County QRT consists of several area agencies that work together to reduce opioid overdoses.
The Monongalia County QRT has held Save a Life Day events around Monongalia County at least once a year since September 2021, a year after a Charleston-based group, WV SOAR, introduced the concept. Now it's a nationwide event that took place on Thursday, Sept. 24 this year.
In addition to the Health Sciences Center, the Mountainlair and the courthouse, this year's locations included the WVU Rec Center; the Sabraton and Suncrest McDonald's; Pop the Soda Shop in Westover; and three mobile sites, Clinton District Library, Arnettsville Library and the Blacksville 7-Eleven.
QRT coordinator Brittany Irick of Monongalia County Health Department had wondered if 2,000 kits would be too many because the community has been so saturated with naloxone since the event began, but that ended up not being the case.
The Mountainlair site had to wrap up hours early because workers there ran out of naxolone.
"We're having a really busy day," Irick added.