Monday, January 13, 2025
The Bellmore-Merrick Community Parent Center hosted a Narcan training at the Brookside School on Nov. 18 to address the ongoing opioid crisis. Attendees learned how to identify and respond to overdoses using naloxone, commonly known as Narcan, a nasal spray that can reverse the effects of an opioid overdose.
Narcan works by rapidly binding to opioid receptors in the brain, displacing the opioids and effectively stopping their effects, including life-threatening respiratory depression. Narcan is typically administered as a nasal spray, making it easy to use even for those without medical training.
Bellmore-Merrick’s Community Parent Center is a resource center for parent and community education programs. It runs informative events all year long — like Narcan trainings — and additional programs that target drug use.
The Tempo Group, led by Cindy Wolff, its executive director, is a nonprofit, community-based alcohol and drug rehabilitation center, is based at the Brookside School, which is also the Bellmore-Merrick Central High School District’s headquarters. The group, which assisted with last week’s Narcan training, provides specialized adolescent treatment programs for teenagers who are experiencing difficulty managing their life due to substance abuse, and provides treatment in groups as well, among other services.
Wendy Tepfer, the parent center’s director, has highlighted the severity of the opioid epidemic, especially the rise in fentanyl-related deaths.
“An opioid addiction does not discriminate,” she said at a past Narcan training, urging prevention and education for parents and teens.
According to the CDC, opioids were involved with 80,000 deaths in 2022, accounting for nearly 75 percent of all drug overdose deaths. Fentanyl is a primary drive of these fatalities.
Fentanyl, a synthetic drug, is 50 to 100 times more potent than morphine, a common opioid, and is often mixed into other drugs without the user’s knowledge, significantly increasing the risk of overdose. Overdose deaths among people ages 15 to 24 have risen sharply in recent years, often linked to counterfeit pills containing fentanyl.
Despite its effectiveness, many overdoses go untreated due to a lack of awareness or access to Narcan, underscoring the need for education. Narcan is now available over-the-counter, and learning how to administer it properly can help reduce fatalities and save thousands of lives each year.
At last week’s event, attendees that before Narcan is even administered, it is crucial that 911 is called. Even if someone arouses from an overdose, they are still in need of medical attention. The person receiving Narcan should be flat on the ground, and with a simple push of your thumb, the entire dose of it will come out of the spray nozzle. Even if it appears that the person is not breathing, Narcan should still work. Sometimes, a second or third doese of Narcan needs to be administered, depending on the severity of the overdose.
Narcan will only work on an opioid overdose — it cannot reverse the effects of a different type of overdose. With that said, Narcan will not harm someone if they are overdosing on a different type of drug, so it can be administered even if one is unsure what is causing an overdose.
Everyone who attended the training last week received a kit containing Narcan.
The Community Parent Center and the Tempo Group operate under the guise that “prevention is key.” The Tempo Group has offices at 1260 Meadowbrook Road, North Merrick. To learn more about opioid addiction, the treatment center, services offered, and outreach within Bellmore-Merrick schools, call the Tempo Group at (516) 374-3671.
