Maya McFadden Photos
Octavious Horton at Thursday’s NARCAN giveaway (below).
On a whim, Octavious Horton turned right on Temple Street while walking downtown — and stumbled upon a free giveaway of kits of naloxone, also known as NARCAN, an emergency medication that reverses opioid overdoses.
He said the free kit was unfortunately timely, as he had just witnessed a friend overdose on Sunday. “I felt useless,” he said. “I wasn’t prepared.”
Horton, 49, was one of several people to stop by Thursday’s free NARCAN distribution and training event, hosted at Temple Street and Chapel Street on the Green by the Sex Workers and Allies Network (SWAN). The group handed out around 30 NARCAN kits Thursday morning, and planned to return to the Green in the afternoon to hand out dozens more.
Horton said he has other friends who struggle with drug addiction, and therefore feels grateful to have picked up both kits to keep on hand daily.
“I’m not into that stuff, but I would want someone to help me. Everyone needs someone,” he said.
From the doorway of a white van parked on the corner of Temple and Chapel, SWAN Outreach Manager Jennifer Castellone asked each small group of residents that gathered, “Who knows the symptoms of an overdose?”
Chris Buchanan, 32, answered Castellone from the crowd with the potential symptom of a pale face and blue lips.
“Correct, but you want to catch it way before that,” responded Castellone.
Castellone told the crowds that the most common symptoms are non-responsiveness and slowed breathing.
Buchanan is a recovering opioid addict himself, and stopped by the van Thursday to prepare himself for future overdose situations.
Buchanan said that, though he is recovering, he has friends who still regularly use opioids and might overdose one day. “It can’t hurt to have it,” he said.
Buchanan suffered from an overdose years ago, and went into rehab soon thereafter. During rehab Buchanan said he learned the symptoms of an overdose and also educated himself on how to help in such situations.
The SWAN team members said there has been an uptick in overdoses in New Haven recently. About a month ago, Castellone said, she witnessed a 20-year-old overdose on the Green and die.
Before stepping up to the table to get the kits the team members asked everyone to pull their face masks over their nose and mouth.
Those who visited had the choice between picking up a NARCAN kit with two inner nasal sprays or a kit with three NARCAN needles for injection into the inner muscular areas of the arms or legs.
Once either of the two are used on someone experiencing an overdose, Castellone told the crowd, they should call 911.
Beatrice Codianni, Jennifer Castellone, Christine, and Sally Graveline.
SWAN founder and Executive Director Beatrice Codianni and outreach workers Sally Graveline and Christine also distributed the kits.
The team came prepared with 200 kits to distribute in the morning and again in the evening on the Green from 4 to 5 p.m. The nasal sprays were most popular amongst residents because of their ease of use, said Castellone.
After picking up the kits, each person was offered a snack and water to go.
Karrie Dagraca
Karrie Dagraca, 43, stopped to pick up a nasal kit while passing by. “It’s a blessing because I only have one left at home,” she said.
Dagraca is from New York but moved to New Haven in 2018 to get her GED and start a new job.
Last year, Dagraca said, she had to inject a family member with naloxone after an overdose incident, and has since been hoping to have more than just one dose stocked up.
“Everyone should be trained and given these. Too many people are dying from overdoses and people just walk by,” Dagraca said. “You can save someone’s life before the police get there.”
About 30 people picked up kits during the morning distribution.
The SWAN team hopes to do pop-ups in neighborhoods to distribute and educate residents about how to recognize and respond to an opioid overdose.
Codianni said Downtown and Whalley Avenue are areas that have seen recent overdose upticks.
SWAN’s goal is to work with community leaders, church groups, management teams to continue to bring free NARCAN training to the community as the medicine is only accessible through prescriptions.
“It’s not just an urban problem, it’s all over,” said Codianni.
The team got a SWAN-imprinted van from New Haven Vital Statistics about a month ago to continue their mobile work.
The team said opioid overdose is one of the leading causes of death for people under 50 years old, and that roughly 1,200 people died from overdoses last year in Connecticut.
This program will save lives. Thank you to everybody who is helping addicts from dying by teaching how to use narcan and giving out kits. Now we as a society need to do more to help addicts receive treatment and recover, and keep people safe until they are ready to get help.