Spreading overdose prevention awareness on National Save a Life Day
Mississippi is joining a national effort to raise awareness about overdose prevention.
WXXV News 25’s Asia Ellis shows us how local organizations are participating in National Save a Life Day.
For the third year, Mississippi participated in National Save a Life Day. Many local organizations on the Coast, including Back Bay Mission, the Sober Society, Singing River Hospitals, and more, offered free Narcan, overdose prevention resources, and free HIV testing to the community. Health and Wellness Navigator Terra Moreau said, “We have been experiencing two to three overdoses a week on campus here. When we get outside, we see that they are just unconscious and really need help. We’ve had to administer quite a bit of Narcan lately. So far this year, I have passed out over 2,000 doses of Narcan. There are a lot of people who are coming in contact with fentanyl. It’s not immediately an overdose if you get it on your hand, but if you ingest it you can overdose. Children are overdosing, they’re coming in contact with things, so it’s important to have this in every household at this point because it’s becoming such a problem.”
The Mississippi State Department of Health says awareness efforts are especially important as communities continue to feel the impact of dangerous substances found in counterfeit pills. Health officials say carrying Narcan and knowing the signs of an overdose could help save a life. Back Bay Mission Executive Director Rev. James Pennington said, “It’s very simple to use, it’s kind of like nasal spray, you actually just insert it into a nostril, and spray that. It actually saves lives. We had many people here that were overdosing, usually one to two a week, and we actually saved their life on our campus. It can happen with recreational drugs because we’re finding especially recently that there’s a lot of additives. Sometimes they spray raid on some of these drugs called spice. Which is kind of a synthetic marijuana, kratom, so it’s really a dangerous thing.”
The dangers of drug use hit close to home after two University of Mississippi students died Tuesday in a suspected overdose, through the cause of death has not been confirmed.
Organizers say events like Save a Life Day are designed to remove the stigma surrounding addiction while connecting people with resources that could help prevent future overdose deaths.
