FRACKVILLE — Education about heroin overdoses and a drug to help someone if they have one were discussed Thursday at the Holiday Inn Express in the borough.
“You need to start as soon as you notice. You need to confront them,” said Dr. John Stefovic, who provides medication assisted therapy to clients and who spent 11 years as an emergency room physician in various hospitals statewide.
The “Public Access to Narcan” sessions featured both Stefovic and Ricky A. Ney Jr., the owner of Schuylkill United Health Services, Tremont, speaking about the cost of overdoses, what can be done to prevent them, treatment options and the need for greater awareness.
“It’s becoming an incredible problem for all of us,” Stefovic said of addiction in Schuylkill County.
Naloxone, a fast-acting overdose antidote that blocks effects of heroin and opiates on the brain, is a tool that can save lives. The drug is also known as Narcan. The drug was available to those who completed one of two training sessions, each a couple hours long. The Schuylkill County Drug and Alcohol program distributed some of the drug it purchased with Human Services Block Grant Funds during the event sponsored by the county program and Clinical Outcomes Group Inc. Participants had an opportunity to ask questions, assemble a kit and to practice administering the medication on a training dummy.
Nurses, county employees from the juvenile probation department and members of the public attended the sessions. Melissa Chewey, Schuylkill County Drug and Alcohol program administrator, said 29 people attended the sessions.
Some questioned if they can get sued for giving the medication. Act 139, signed by former Gov. Tom Corbett last year permits police and others to give the medication without fear of prosecution and provides immunity where applicable.
Stefovic said addiction should be seen as disease. Heroin and other drugs can do tremendous harm to addicts and those they love.
“The heroin has taken on a such hierarchical structure in their brain that nothing else matters to them,” Stefovic said.
That is why people do some irrational things when on heroin, he said. It can be difficult for some to separate the addict from the fact they still need help.
Stefovic said he understands that police and others might have concerns about the withdrawal symptoms that those who overdosed might experience.
“They worry that maybe that person might take a swing at you is not the way to look at this,” he said.
The person needs help.
“There is almost no danger at all to giving this person intranasal medication,” he said.
In his 11 years as an emergency room physician, Stefovic has not had a patient who had taken heroin try to harm him after giving them naloxone. Different factors weigh into what can happen, though.
“There’s always a risk,” Ney said, adding the risk is less when giving the medication to people through the nose because it is not as fast acting as if it would be if given intravenously.
The goal should be to have the person who overdosed get better so they can be taken to the hospital.
“The goal is to have this person breathe on their own,” Ney said.
Doing what is right by giving someone the naloxone should not be a matter of possible legal repercussions, Stefovic said. Both admitted it could take more than one dose of the drug to have that person start breathing again, depending on how much they have in their system and other factors.
“We may not get all the pieces of that puzzle,” Ney said.
He said overdoses usually occur within a window of time, possible 1 to 3 three hours after taking the drug.
Getting the person who is addicted to admit they have a problem and need help is also important, Ney said.
Donna Miles, a nurse in a primary care physician’s office in Orwigsburg, said attending was important to her so she can learn more about the disease.
“I didn’t realize how extensive this problem is in Pennsylvania or in our county. It’s heartbreaking,” she said.
Almost 2,500 people died from drug overdose deaths in 2014, state data show. In Schuylkill County, seventeen people died from drug overdoses that year.
Tony Gladski, 54, of Shenandoah Heights, said it is too late for the son of his friend, who died years ago. He said the young man took the drug and then never woke up.
“This is nice to have. It can save lives,” he said.
To learn more about naloxone, visit the state Department of Drug and Alcohol program’s website, www.ddap.pa.gov. Those who want to learn more can also call the Schuylkill County Drug and Alcohol program office at 570-621-2890.
Chewey said more sessions are possible early next year.
“I do want to take it to different locations in the county,” she said.