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In just a few weeks, a life-saving event that began in West Virginia will take place across the nation.
Since 2021, the nonprofit SOAR West Virginia has coordinated National Save A Life Day, an annual day to distribute free naloxone kits that can save the life of someone who has overdosed on opiates.
“So you might set up outside of maybe a dollar store, a church, a hospital, a bus stop, anywhere that’s kind of a high traffic area and try to talk to everyone that you see about naloxone,” National Save A Life Day Coordinator Caroline Wilson said. “We train everybody on how to use it and that takes really maybe five minutes.”
Save A Life Day started in two counties in West Virginia – largely considered to be the epicenter of the opiate crisis that has gripped much of the nation. This year – with four weeks to go – there are nearly 700 free naloxone events in 47 states. Visit the events directory for an interactive map of each confirmed event. The greatest participation is still in West Virginia.
“Every single county participates,” Wilson said. “Last year, West Virginia gave out over 30,000 doses of naloxone and our total across the nation was like 133,000. So that’s a pretty big chunk in West Virginia.”
Wilson said there can be a stigma associated with naloxone.
“As many years as I’ve been doing this, you’ll always have a percentage of people that when you offer them naloxone, they’ll say, ‘I don’t need that. Like, I don’t do drugs,’ right? And so we have to break through that stigma of like, it’s not for you,” she said. “It’s more like the idea that you care about other people and if you came across someone that was dying in front of you that you would save them because you had this tool with you.”
The event is set for September 24.