Online training teaches you how to save someone from an overdose, and comes with a free Narcan kit

JACKSONVILLE, Fla. — A free training online that takes less than an hour could help you save a life in your community. A life that would otherwise be lost to an overdose from a synthetic opioid, like fentanyl.

Overdose deaths involving fentanyl and synthetic opioids are reaching another record high.

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The CDC says at least 109,000 people died of overdoses over the past year, and more than half of them linked to synthetic opioids, like fentanyl.

Action News Jax has told you about the recent rise of fentanyl here in Florida.

Read: 14 charged in drug trafficking operation coordinated from inside a Georgia prison

In 2020, over 6,000 people died from fentanyl overdoses in the state.

But there’s a nonprofit in Jacksonville helping neighbors in Duval prevent these deaths by providing them with a free Narcan kit, which can save a life by reversing an overdose.

“We think when someone’s overdosing, that it’s the homeless person in the alleyway shooting up heroin. It’s a grandmother that didn’t remember she took two opioids, or one opioid and takes another one. It’s a kid who has so much anxiety and orders a Xanax online and doesn’t know it has fentanyl,” said Hannah Schaper, Director of Education and Training for the nonprofit Drug Free Duval.

Read: Son, daughter-in-law arrested after Southeast Georgia couple found shot to death in their bed

Jacksonville Fire and Rescue Department shares stats with Drug Free Duval on how prevalent the problem is. In June, there were 416 calls for service related to overdoses and of those, 460 Narcan doses administered.

“Narcan doses administered is due to fentanyl and how strong it is, that it may take multiple doses to reverse that overdose,” Schaper said. “They say three grains of salt or a fraction of a raindrop is what can cause an overdose.”

Only Narcan can reverse an overdose, and Drug Free Duval offers training on how to use it, in partnership with JFRD and the City of Jacksonville, which covers the costs of the kits.

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The Narcan kit retails anywhere from $40 to upwards of $130 but if you take the training, you can get one for free.

“To have that, I think it’s critical that everyone takes the training,” said Jennifer Long, who’s taken the training three times and remembers she got her kit.

“I was excited, not that I was looking for someone to overdose, but I stay with it, I keep it on me at all times.”

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She stresses the education can make all the difference.

“The more people you empower, the more lives you save,” she said.

The online training happens at noon on Friday. To register, click here: https://t.co/UYw87rG8Be or scan the QR code below.

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