LYNN — In conjunction with Public Health Week, Opioid Prevention Specialist Candice McClory held a class on Narcan training and overdose prevention.
“We always have the training available here, but because it’s Public Health Week, we just really wanted to highlight it specifically during this week so that people know for sure that it is available,” McClory said.
Narcan, also known as Naloxone, is a medication used to temporarily reverse the effects of an opioid overdose.
She emphasized that people can come into the Public Health Department at City Hall at any time to learn about overdose prevention and Narcan use. McClory said as long as she’s there, she’s there to help.
“The opioid epidemic isn’t going away unfortunately, and the drug trends keep shifting, and it’s really important that we let people know that overdoses happen,” McClory said.
McClory has been around substance abuse her whole life, and got into the field in 2007.
“I just really have a passion for helping people and making sure that they have all the information, and that they can make their best decisions,” she said.
McClory said overdoses are happening more often and all over now, so it’s important to know what to do when you, a passerby, see it happening in order to prevent more fatalities.
“Some signs of an overdose are slow breathing or not breathing at all, lips and fingernails turning shades of blue, and then not responding to any stimulation,” McClory said.
If an overdose is occuring, McClory said to call 911, administer a sternum rub to see if the person responds, give the Narcan up one nostril at a time, and administer “rescue breaths” while the Narcan enters the system.
McClory said it takes about three-to-five minutes for the Narcan to work.
Finally, she said to put the person in a recovery position to prevent them from vomiting/choking on their vomit until Emergency Medical Services arrives.
The city of Lynn has five Naloxone cabinets that are available 24/7 and stocked with Narcan kits.
The cabinets are located at Western Ave. and Light Street, Lynn Commons at the Bath House, Broad Street and Cherry Street, Liberty Street and Central Avenue, and Mt. Vernon Street.
Each Narcan kit contains two doses of Narcan, a face shield, fentanyl test strips, and a list of local substance use resources in the area.
Each cabinet has a QR code on it, linking to a Narcan training video in both English and Spanish.
