There’s some good news in the fight against opioids in Arlington County, Virginia.
The Northern Virginia county’s Department of Human Services said it’s noticing a decrease in overdoses, in part because of free Narcan training being offered to the public.
“It empowers our community to step in and take a role in battling this opioid epidemic,” said Emily Siqveland, Opioid Program Manager with Arlington County’s DHS.
She said they want free Narcan training to give people a fighting chance.
“They teach community members how to respond to an overdose with a very safe medication,” she explained.
Sessions are offered on the first and third Wednesdays of each month, but she said they’ve been picking up steam recently. You can register online through Arlington County’s government website, or by emailing narcan@arlingtonva.us.
And beyond that, Siqveland adds that they have new evidence to show there’s a ripple effect.
“In 2022, we saw a 40% decrease in fatal overdoses in Arlington County,” she told WTOP. “We also saw a huge increase in Narcan distribution.”
Everyone who attends a training session can take home the life-saving medication free of charge — up to an entire box, sometimes two, said Siqveland.
“If we can save ONE life from each training we offer, we’re doing our job,” she said. “We have seen a ripple effect from that. People come to us and say, ‘my friend told me about this great training, can I get trained too?'”
She said even if only one community member at a time shows up to training sessions, they’ll still continue to have them, adding she wants Virginians in her county to continue to spread the word … and save lives in the process.
