CHARLESTON, W.Va. — In the last two weeks, there have been more than two dozen overdoses and three deaths on the West Side of Charleston which is why volunteers were out in the community Thursday to provide free naloxone kits and training to the general public.
“It could save their life if someone is unresponsive,” said Danni Dineen, quick response coordinator of the city’s CARE Office.
Dineen knows from experience, 23 times to be exact.
“I carry Narcan because 23 people did for me,” she said of the amount of times she overdosed over the years. She’s clean now and is determined to help others struggling with drug addition.
The effort is part of Save a Life Day, which took place in all 55 West Virginia counties Thursday.
Charleston resident Betty Stemple lost her 36 year old son in April to a heroin overdose.
“I told him to stay away from it,” Stemple said. “He would go out here to any homeless person to try to score. They were desperate and would sell him whatever they could get a hold of.”
Stemple told MetroNews she believes the drug that killed her son was laced with fentanyl.
Her mission now is to hand out as many Narcan kits as possible because it could prevent what happened to her son.
“It might have saved his life,” she said. “Thank God we have people like us that care. They just need someone to care and help them.”
Save a Life Day across West Virginia. That means volunteers are out providing free naloxone training to the public in hopes of preventing drug overdoses. In the last 2 weeks there have been 28 overdoses including 3 deaths in Charleston. I got my training. @WVMetroNews @580WCHS pic.twitter.com/VTPmdOVfhw
— Carrie Hodousek (@CarrieHodousek) September 8, 2022
The free kits include a Narcan nasal spray, a CPR mask, a strip to test fentanyl and other training materials. The training itself takes about five minutes.
“It looks like Flonase,” Dineen said of the naloxone nasal spray. “You just lay them flat on their back, in the nostril and hit the dispenser.”
When someone is experiencing an overdose, Dineen said the person could have blue lips or blue finger tips and have trouble breathing. She said it’s best to lay the person overdosing on their side so they don’t choke on their own vomit.
Dineen was with Kanawha-Charleston Health Department Officer Dr. Steven Eshenaur when she stopped the free Narcan site in the Tudor’s parking lot on the West Side. She said 28 overdoses have happened within the two block radius since Aug. 24, but it can happen anywhere.
“Unfortunately, it happens at daycare, parks, churches, Tudors, everywhere. The more people that we have out here supporting those individuals and normalizing things, reducing stigma and distributing Narcan, I feel like the more success we’ll have in combating the epidemic,” Dineen said.