GREENE COUNTY — Health officials in Greene County are passing out a couple of important tools in the continuing fight to cut down on the number of fatal fentanyl ODs.
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The tools are fentanyl test strips and Narcan spray -- and the county can mail the kit to your home when you order them online.
Stephen Taylor, director of Bridges of Hope, supports the expansion of the Naloxone program because it is proactive and because he knows how important it is to have those items nearby in times of crisis.
“I was a heroin addict and I used too much,” Taylor told News Center 7′s Malik Patterson on Thursday. “And I went out and my cousin had to bring me back with Narcan.”
That episode was five years ago.
“It’s important for the community to be aware and just to have it at hand because we never know who it’s going to be,” Taylor said. " It could be the guy working on your refrigerator, right? It could be your next-door neighbor.”
Alayna Romer, county health educator, said, “We saw the positive response and just the people feeling a little bit more sense of security having that on hand.”
County health officials have been fighting a rise in the opioid epidemic since 2017, which Romer said was “the peak as far as overdose deaths in Greene County.”
There were 47 fatal ODs in the county in 2022, 34 in 2023.
The decrease in fatal ODs, Romer said, is the result of a collective effort by businesses throughout the county getting on board with carrying the kits and promoting the program.
For Taylor, it’s about saving lives and not judging lives.
“Just because you have Narcan or use Narcan doesn’t mean that you’re saying that drug use is OK. It doesn’t mean that you’re saying, ‘Yes, we promote [drug use]. But it does say yes, we promote life and second chances.’ "
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