BUCKHANNON – Volunteers aimed to hand out 1,000 Narcan kits during this year’s Save a Life Day.
Organizer Missy Daugherty set up a table at Jawbone Park Sept. 14, where she and other volunteers offered free naloxone kits – also known as NARCAN — and other items. Naloxone is classified as an opioid antagonist medication that can quickly reverse an opioid overdose and, ultimately, save someone’s life.
“I hand out kits because I lost my sister,” Daugherty said. “It’s a personal thing, and I may have lost my sister, but I’ll try to save yours — it’s a community effort. Drug use disorder is a hard disease to face, and it takes more than one person. Just like with any other disease, it takes a team of people, and it takes community support. Drug use is here; let’s make it safer; let’s show them we care and love them.”
Thursday marked the second Save a Life Day offered in Upshur County, and Daugherty said the event last year was a success. Volunteers were able to give out 600 kits, so they hoped to give away 1,000 kits this year.
Daugherty said anyone can carry Narcan, even if they aren’t around drug addiction on a regular basis.
“I work with seniors, and 10% of Narcan distribution is for seniors that have accidentally taken medicine,” she explained. “They’ve either taken their husband’s or their spouse’s medicine, which they were never prescribed to begin with, or they’ve taken too much of something they’ve been prescribed.”
“Some also have Alzheimer’s where they’ll take a nap, and they wake up, and they’ll think it’s the next day, so they take their medicine all over again, so I recommend that everybody carry it,” Daugherty added.
The kits include four Narcan sprays, a CPR mask and paperwork that needs to be filed if the Narcan is used.
“I keep the kits in my car, but you do have to watch temperatures because temperature will mess with it,” Daugherty said. “I carry it on my person or put it in my purse if I go to festivals or if I go to concerts, but you do have to watch temperatures because if it gets cold or if it gets too hot, they can combust.”
Other volunteers at Good Times Tattoo Studio and Tri-County Health Clinic were also giving away Narcan kits during Save a Life Day.
“It’s a team effort,” Daugherty said. “There’s a whole team of us, and if there’s people out there that are actively using, just know there’s people out there that love you, and you matter to people – we care.”
