Hamden Organizations To Offer Narcan Training For Opioid Response

Press release from the Hamden Public Library:

March 1, 2021

The Hamden Public Library and the Quinnipiack Valley Health District are raising awareness about the opioid crisis – the other epidemic. Learn how you can help prevent, identify and respond to an opioid overdose event by using the opioid overdose reversal medication, Naloxone, also known as Narcan. Training will be provided virtually via Zoom on Wednesday, March 17th and Wednesday, April 28th, both at 6:30. Free Narcan kits will be available to anyone interested.

Seventy-three Hamden residents lost their lives due to a drug overdose between 2015-2020. ABC News recently reported that opioid overdoses were 29% higher during the pandemic in 2020 than before. The Centers for Disease Control reports that 750,000 Americans have died of a drug overdose since 1999, and opioids were involved in two-thirds of these deaths. Countless non-fatal overdose events are occurring daily within the Greater New Haven area. The opioid crisis impacts all ages, genders, races, and socio-economic classes. Anyone can overdose. Anyone can save a life. And everyone should know how opioids can affect the people they care about.

The presenter, Kara Sepulveda, from the Community Health Division at the Quinnipiack Valley Health District, has a Bachelors in Public Health from the University of Massachusetts Amherst.

Both virtual events are free and open to the public, but registration is required. Register online at www.hamdenlibrary.org (click on “Programs”) or call 203-287-2680. After signing up, you will receive a meeting link by email.

This press release was produced by Hamden Public Library. The views expressed here are the author's own.