Kait's Angels Fights Fentanyl Scourge With School Narcan Stations

NORTH FORK, NY — A North Fork organization aimed at helping those in need has taken action to help stem the tide of despair sparked by the burgeoning fentanyl crisis.

Kait's Angels, a not-for-profit group created after former Mattituck Strawberry Queen, Kaitlyn Doorhy, 20, died while away at college in 2014, has helped scores of North Fork residents. Through fundraisers including a Designer Wingo Handbag event, a Poker Run, and a yearly yard sale, the group has raised funds to reach out with full hearts and help residents facing health crises and other challenges — and has worked to install Buddy Benches across the North Fork and beyond, so that no child ever has to sit alone.

Now, Kait's Angels is working to save lives. According to Joe Doorhy, Kaitlyn's father — he and Kaitlyn's mother Darla serve on the board of Kait's Angels with a team of dedicated volunteers — the fentanyl scourge was weighing heavily on his mind.

Doorhy dedicated years to giving back to local schools when his girls were students, as a member of the booster club and also helping to see the playground at Cutchogue East Elementary School built.

With escalating reports of fentanyl taking the lives of young people, Doorhy knew he wanted to prevent tragedy in North Fork schools. To that end, he reached out to New York State Senator Anthony Palumbo, who put him in touch with New York State Assemblyman Fred Thiele. The path ultimately led to Kait's Angels teaming up with Stony Brook Eastern Long Island Hospital to get the North Fork schools onboard with setting up Narcan stations in their districts.

On Friday, members of Kait's Angels, including the Doorhys and Kait's Angels President William Araneo, headed to Southold High School, where they were joined school officials from the Mattituck-Cutchogue, Southold, and Greenport districts, as well as representatives from Stony Brook Eastern Long Island Hospital, Greenport Brewery, the Greenport Business Improvement District, Community Action for Social Justice, the Southold Police Department, and the local business community, to unveil Narcan stations that will be distributed to each of the districts.

A total of 20 Narcan rescue stations will be distributed to Mattituck High School and Junior High School, and Cutchogue East Elementary School. In addition, 20 Narcan rescue stations will be distributed to Southold High School and Southold Middle and Elementary Schools; the Greenport Union Free School District will receive 15 Narcan stations to be distributed throughout the single K through 12 building.

"Unfortunately, fentanyl has invaded our country, causing hundreds of deaths among our youth," Kait's Angels said in a statement. "While we find it hard to be proactive in preventing fentanyl from reaching our communities, the least we can do is try and be proactive in preventing some of the deaths related to opioid overdoses."

Doorhy said he commended the districts for supporting efforts to curb the epidemic.

Training to administer Narcan will be offered to students, faculty, and parents. Any other districts that would like to participate in the program can email KaitsAngels.org.

Doorhy said, in coordinating the effort, he reached out to Greg Wormuth, director of health, physical education and athletics at the Mattituck-Cutchogue Union Free School District; Southold Schools Athletic Director Steve Flanagan and Terence Rusch, Southold High School principal; as well as Greenport school officials. Southold Town police and CASJ also supported the initiative.

The Narcan stations will be set up where the AEDs are located in each district; school nurses will also have some available — and they will also be onhand on ballfields, Doorhy said.

Narcan stations will even be present at elementary schools, Doorhy said, because there is always the chance, with the children not present on weekends, that someone else could leave a fentanyl-laced piece of candy or other danger behind and "a child could pick it up," he said.

When asked why he spearheaded the initiative, Doorhy said he knew he had to take a stand. "It just bothers me that all of a sudden, there's all of this fentanyl flooding into this country," he said.
News of young people overdosing in Southold, Riverhead, and in a sea of other locations, is something that can't be ignored, he said.

"If we can't stop fentanyl from coming in, we have to do something to help the kids," he said, adding he wanted the Narcan stations in before summer, when young people might be unknowingly using drugs laced with deadly fentanyl. "It's everywhere," he said.

Stony Brook Eastern Long Island Hospital officials expressed thanks to Kait's Angels: "We are grateful that Kait’s Angels have aligned with our commitment to saving lives here on the North Fork."

In March, the Greenport business community also worked with SBELIH to unveil Narcan stations in bars and restaurants after a batch of fentanyl-laced cocaine in 2021 led to eight overdoses and six deaths over eight days on the North Fork and Shelter Island.