Save A Life Day Organizers Expect Drop In EMS Calls

Organizers of the 2026 National Save A Life Day, which took place in every state on Thursday, are busily tallying the results of how many overdose-reversing naloxone kits were distributed. 

But with 1,280 events in all 50 states, final figures are expected to take a few weeks. 

In the meantime, national coordinator Caroline Wilson said previous years indicate there are lives being saved – they just don’t know how many. 

“One thing that we maybe don’t have the best data on is how many actual overdoses there are, because we can get great data on the people that have actually died from an overdose,” Wilson said. “Sometimes we get data back from people who have used naloxone to save a life from an overdose, but not always. And so I imagine that there’s lots and lots of unreported overdoses happening that we don’t even know about.” 

Even without the final figures, SOAR West Virginia – a Charleston-based harm reduction non-profit that launched the Save a Life event in 2021 – said there were roughly 2,500 free naloxone doses handed out in Berkley County. In Kanawha County there were close to 8,000 free doses, far more than in previous years.