“This is a heavily self-reliant community people… most people that live in the desert choose to live out here because of the solitude, and while we have a very social community we also live in a place where people like their space. With that said a lot of those people are the very first people to stop and help…”
That’s Justin Merino of the High Desert Emergency Action Alliance. We were talking about the hi desert’s propensity to help one another – and during a rising fentanyl epidemic how the overdose drug Naloxone (or the brand name Narcan) may be a good thing for a desert dweller to carry in the car.
Naloxone is a drug that used to reverse an opioid overdose. It’s been available at the Hi Desert Emergency Action Alliance, or HDEAA. The drug is administered as a nasal spray and can bring people out of an overdose if administered in time. The HDEAA gives out the Naloxone for free with no questions asked – but you do have to understand how to use it. With every box of Naloxone given out Merino runs through a short demonstration and walks through the simple steps of administering the drug. So far, he says the program has seen success –
Justin Merino: “In the year we’ve done it, we’ve had 4 people come back and tell us that they’ve administered Narcan In and it reversed the overdose. That lead us into the testing strips, which we thought ‘wouldn’t it be great if people didn’t have to use the Narcan in the first place.”
Read more:
– Yucca Valley Man suspected of fentanyl overdose revived by Naloxone
– Sheriff’s Deputies use Naloxone to save overdosing man in Joshua Tree
Fentanyl can show up in many drugs – including ones that some consider recreational. It’s those drugs: ecstasy, cocaine, Xanax or marijuana – that can also benefit from the free test. The test itself is well-designed – in Europe the packaging says – and appears easy to use. Justin walked me through it: it only takes a small amount of the drug your testing to get a result which will hopefully encouraging more testing more often.
The HDEAA will be at the 29 Palms Farmer’s Market this Saturday with a booth, distributing Naloxone as well as the fentanyl tests. They will also be at the Community Health Fair in Yucca Valley on the 27th.
You can also visit the High Desert Emergency Action Alliance at their location in Yucca Valley – or visit their website for more info.
