Education session on overdoses, Narcan held at Clinton Library
Kristi McCaleb, a state of Tennessee regional overdose prevention specialist, spoke to a group at the Clinton Public Library recently about how drug overdoses affect people. (photo:Ben Pounds )
Kristi McCaleb, a regional overdose prevention specialist for Tennessee, spoke to a group of people recently at the Clinton Public Library about how overdoses affect people.
She also handed out kits of Narcan, a type of naloxone nasal spray that can help prevent opioid overdose deaths, and explained how to use them.
A similar event will take place from noon-1 p.m. June 11 at the Oak Ridge Public Library.
“We feel like education is powerful; knowledge is powerful,” McCaleb said.
She said people should call first responders in addition to using the nasal spray. Using the spray properly can keep people experiencing overdoses alive before the first responders arrive. She discussed other first aid methods, such as CPR.
She talked about more long-term prevention and recovery methods.
Still, she said first aid responses like administering the naloxone spray are important.
“We keep trying to keep them alive because we believe every life matters, and where there’s life, there’s hope,” she said.
Opioids, McCaleb said, include prescription drugs like hydrocodone and oxycodone, such as the OxyContin brand. They also include illicit substances such as fentanyl and heroin.
“They’re respiratory system depressants,” McCaleb said. “That means when a person takes them, they slow down the person’s breathing. It makes them want to sleep.”
Overdoses, she said, occur when a toxic amount of a drug or a combination of drugs overwhelms the body. Opioids, she said, are just one such type of drug that can lead to overdoses, but they’re the ones that naloxone medications like the Narcan she brought can help.
Nalaxone, she said reverses the effects of opioids by binding to the brain’s opioid receptors more powerfully than than the opioids.
Miria Webb, the Clinton Public Library director, organized the event. She said she’d found out in March about two overdoses in Anderson County.
“I decided we should do something about it,” she said.
While she said library staff had already trained in treating overdoses, she wanted to do an event for the public, too.
“I knew that there were kids who were dying,” she said.
McCaleb, in her presentation, recommended that people help prevent overdoses by locking up prescription medications and dropping off unused medications at safe disposal sites.
She said people could work on scheduling their own Narcan trainings with churches and religious groups, civic organizations or other interested groups.
People can also get involved in drug prevention coalitions such as Allies for Substance Abuse Prevention of Anderson County.
She said people should support loved ones as they recover if they’re misusing substances, but also support their own mental health if they find their loved ones in that situation.
People should advocate for their workplaces to cover mental health with health insurance and other programs for mental health, she said.
She also recommended some phone and internet resources. The TN Redline helps with addiction treatment referrals. That number is 800-889-9789, and people can either call or text. The website findhelpnowtn.org helps people find substance-misuse treatment providers.
There is also a free smartphone app, TN Recover, for Apple and Android devices, helping people either in recovery from substance-abuse disorders, or looking for more information on prevention.
More help with mental health crises can be found by calling 988, the suicide and crisis lifeline.