Our loved ones are dying. This simple statement tells the whole complex and terrifying story of the resurgence of heroin addiction. Here in our Delaware River communities the national epidemic has a local face—everyone has been affected or knows someone affected by the nightmare of heroin addiction.

Statistics on local heroin fatalities are hard to come by. However, in New York State the percentage of all drug-related deaths attributed to heroin rose from 13% in 2008 to 25.9% in 2012, as reported at the New York State Senate Democratic Conference forum held in 2013. It’s only risen higher since then.

In response to the growing problem, many communities are holding training classes for the public to learn how to give the antidote drug Naloxone Hydrochloride (brand name Narcan) to reverse an opioid overdose and prevent death. It is the same drug carried on ambulances and used by hospitals and police to save lives. Last month, New York Gov. Andrew Cuomo also approved funding to equip school nurses with Narcan.

My husband and I attended a Narcan training course held last month in Hancock, NY, organized by Jessica Bartholomew, assistant director of the crisis unit at the Sullivan County Recovery Center in Monticello (Catholic Charities took over operation of the center on April 1). Bartholomew, who is a resident of Hancock, recognized the need for local training and contacted Catholic Charities of the Albany Diocese to present the program.

Narcan training is just one of the services offered in the organization’s Project Safe Point, a harm-reduction program. Additional services include syringe exchange and disposal, HIV and Hepatitis C screening, and assistance in locating rehab and treatment programs.

“It isn’t like in ‘Pulp Fiction,’” said Joe Filippone, Project Safe Point program manager, who presented the training. His reference is to the movie’s well-known scene in which the John Travolta character must stab a needle into the Uma Thurman character’s heart to combat an overdose. (This was relieving news to everyone who came to the training.) Instead, the drug is given as a nasal spray.

The overdose rescue kit contains two 2mg/2ml vials of Naloxone that can be delivered intranasally. The drug only works for heroin and other types of opioid drugs such as OxyContin and morphine, and will not cause harm if given to someone not experiencing an opioid overdose.

Narcan interrupts an overdose by bonding to opiate receptors in the brain. It blocks opiates for 30 to 90 minutes and causes withdrawal, after which the effects of the opiate can come back. For this reason it is important to get an overdose victim to emergency medical care or to a hospital.

All I can say is, I hope never to have to use my Narcan kit.

A Narcan training class, sponsored by the Wayne

County Heroin Prevention Task Force, will be held Thursday, May 28 from 9 a.m. to 12 noon at the Lava Fire Department, Narrowsburg, NY. Limited to 12 participants, the course will give New York certification and a Narcan kit. PA residents must also complete an online course to be certified in PA.

For more information, also check out The Kingfisher Project (thekingfisherproject.com), a community information and radio project at public radio station, WJFF, Jeffersonville, NY, 90.5fm.