ST. LOUIS — When every second counts in a drug overdose, would you be ready?
Thanks to a seminar at a bar in The Grove, dozens will now be able to answer, yes.
NCADA held a training seminar Monday night, showing a standing-room-only crowd how to administer Naloxone, or as it's also called, Narcan.
"Every life is important," said Rhonda Haley, a participant of the training.
Those four words motivate just about everything she does.
"In the event that we run across people that have overdosed that we may be able to assist them," she said.
She works at the St. Louis Winter Outreach Center that houses the Gateway City's homeless. She said there have been situations before where she was at the mercy of EMS to determine if one of her guests lived or died.
"Every second would count," she said.
Rhonda's face was one of many in the crowd that was eager to learn about how they could save a life.
Nicole Browning, the NCADA Clinic Director, educated the crowd how to administer nasal spray commonly referred to as Narcan.
"The back of your finger goes to your nose and you press that plunger," Browning explains to the class.
She also showed how to use the equally effective Naloxone intramuscular injection
Nicole said there are obvious signs that someone is experiencing an overdose.
"Is that someone is unresponsive, they have ineffective breathing - that they’re not breathing often enough or deep enough - and they often have those really teeny tiny pinpoint pupils," said Browning.
She preaches, even if you're unsure of some of those symptoms, still provide the drug because it isn't harmful to someone who isn't overdosing.
"Waiting for some minutes for EMS to arrive can be the difference of a life," she said.
Nicole said the most powerful tool in the war against overdoses are the people in training exercises like these.
"It really is about saving lives so that people can stay alive long enough to find recovery," said Browning.
Rhonda said that's why she attended, too.
She wanted to demonstrate, if every life is important, she should be ready to prove it.
"That we will be better equipped to do what needs to be done in case of an emergency," said Haley.
Browning went on to explain that there's a misconception that calling 911 may result in charges for the patient administering Narcan.
That's not true, at least not in Missouri anymore.
Last year, the legislature passed a law making both patients and those assisting immune from most criminal charges.
