By Sara Oppenheimer
For Charleston Gazette-Mail
Volunteers fanned out across the Kanawha Valley Thursday, setting out folding tables and tents to hand out naloxone kits for Save A life Day, a day-long event meant to get the overdose-reversal spray in as many hands as possible.
“Having an addiction shouldn’t mean a death sentence,” said Peggy Oldacre, the site leader for Vandalia Health’s Cross Lanes location. “People have a stereotype of what someone … looks like,” Oldacre said, referring to people struggling with addiction. “And then you meet these beautiful human beings who are amazing and smart, but people will still say, ‘We don’t serve people like that.’”
Oldacre has been volunteering for Save A Live Day for the past three years. Last year, the tent saw an uptick in distributions after someone overdosed and was revived with naloxone at a bar nearby the distribution site.
“Pretty much everyone that’s helping end the overdose crisis has one hand tied behind their back because of the laws and rules that limit harm reduction,” said Joe Solomon, a co-founder of Solutions Oriented Action Response of West Virginia, the Charleston nonprofit behind the event. “Save a Life Day is about using that other hand — making it swing with as much naloxone and as much health as possible.”
Save a Life Day was created by SOAR-WV in a two-county pilot program as a response to heightened overdose and HIV rates in the Mountain State, a problem that warranted an investigation by the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention in 2021.
Now on its seventh year, Save A Life Day has grown into a national day of awareness, celebrated in all 55 counties in West Virginia, as well as all 50 states. This year, SOAR-WV boasted 1,097 distribution sites registered for Save A Life Day nationwide, including 15 sites in Kanawha County and more than 200 across West Virginia.
“Everyone has worth,” said Chelsea Steelhammer, the co-director of SOAR-WV. “It’s hard to see so many other people tell someone they don’t have worth and not do something about it.”
More than 150 volunteers worked from 8 a.m. to 6 p.m. at Kanawha’s 15 distribution sites, giving out free naloxone and demonstrating how to use the naloxone nasal spray on someone who may be overdosing. Nearly 8,000 doses of naloxone were distributed this year in Kanawha County alone.
What is naloxone?
Naloxone, also known by the brand name Narcan, is a medication used to reverse opioid overdoses, usually as a nasal spray. It can restart breathing in minutes and does no harm if administered to someone who isn’t overdosing.
While police and EMS have carried naloxone for years, SOAR recommends that bystanders also carry the drug in case help does not arrive on time or with enough materials.
“For a fentanyl overdose, it’s going to take seven or eight doses of Narcan to bring that person back — instead of what it used to be, two or three,” said Jennie Hill, who runs the Risen City Church distribution site, one of Charleston’s busiest sites. “That’s why we’re giving out so many more this year than any past year. Fentanyl is so prevalent, it’s everywhere.”
By early afternoon Thursday, Hill’s site alone handed out more than 2,000 doses after starting the morning with 1,600 and restocking twice.
‘No matter where someone is in life, they matter’
For many people, the choice to carry naloxone is a personal one. Tim Grose, who has been in recovery since 2018, said he has revived five people with naloxone, three of which happened within two weeks of each other in his Beckley apartment.
“You got to get help when you can,” he said. “It’s hard enough out here for people.”
For many of the volunteers, the choice to distribute naloxone is also personal. Hill’s friend died of an fentanyl overdose two weeks ago. The ambulance that responded only had three doses of naloxone on board, according to Hill. For many people, the choice to carry naloxone is a personal one. Tim Grose, who has been in recovery since 2018, said he has revived five people with naloxone, three of which happened within two weeks of each other in his Beckley apartment.
“You got to get help when you can,” he said. “It’s hard enough out here for people.”
For many of the volunteers, the choice to distribute naloxone is also personal. Hill’s friend died of an fentanyl overdose two weeks ago. The ambulance that responded only had three doses of naloxone on board, according to Hill.
“Her funeral was last Tuesday,” said Hill, who has been volunteering with Save a Life Day since it began. “It’s given this a whole new meaning for me.”
Outside of Cafe Appalachia in South Charleston, peer mentors from the WV Peers recovery program said events like Save a Life Day do more than just distribute naloxone; they remind those struggling with addiction that people still care.
“We just let them know that they’re loved and supported,” said Elizabeth Neal, a peer recovery support specialist with West Virginia Sober Living who has six years in recovery. “No matter where someone is in life, their circumstances, it’s still telling them that they matter.”
Where to get naloxone
Though Save a Life Day is over, the push to get naloxone into people’s hands is not over. Cafe Appalachia, which has distributed naloxone year-round for roughly four years, ran its own promotion Thursday: a free “Save a Latte” for anyone who stopped in and got trained. By noon, the downtown location alone had handed out 58 kits.
“We even offer to train people for free outside of this day,” said Mary Howard, a manager at the cafe. “People can come in any time at both locations, come up to the front desk, and one of the managers can train them.”
SOAR also runs naloxone vending machines throughout Charleston, free and available around the clock, for anyone who can’t make it to a naloxone distribution event.
“Everyone deserves another chance,” Neal said. “As long as there’s breath, there’s hope.”
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