By Samantha Smith, The Daily Athenaeum
MORGANTOWN, W.Va. — Free naloxone will be distributed across WVU’s campus for Save a Life Day, a state-wide harm reduction event, from 10 a.m.-6 p.m. on Thursday, Sept. 26.
A collaborative effort between WELLWVU, SOAR West Virginia and the Monongalia County Health Department, the event will provide naloxone, a nasal spray to reverse opioid overdoses, and naloxone training to residents across the state.
The event originated in West Virginia in 2020 and has since spread to 320 counties across approximately 30 states. Each year, the event distributes 50,000-100,000 doses of naloxone, according to Caroline Wilson, Save a Life Day coordinator at SOAR West Virginia.
“Initially, our goal this year was to do every state east of the Mississippi, which is 26 states, but I want to say that we’ve got maybe another five, at least five more,” Wilson said.
West Virginia has the highest overdose fatality rate in the country, according to the CDC, which sparked the creation of the event, Wilson said.
“The organization that I work with, SOAR West Virginia, back in 2020, they started this as a pilot project in just Kanawha and Putnam counties as a way to find solutions to the overdose crisis, and so from there, it grew,” she said.