‘We Prevent’ trains businesses, officials on Narcan

HUMBOLDT, Tenn. — Businesses, law enforcement, and members of the community learned how to use the life-saving drug Narcan at a training session.

“We’re in and out of homes a lot, and you never know when you’re going to run into a situation where you run up on somebody that’s had an overdose,” Randy Parham, owner of Parham Heating, Cooling and Plumbing, said.

He and more than a dozen of his employees learned how to use Narcan during a training class Tuesday morning in Humboldt.

“It was kind of an eye-opener. I didn’t know the drug problem was really that bad until we came to the class,” he said.

The Weakley County Prevention Coalition hosted the training session to teach school officials, business leaders and law enforcement about what to do in a potential overdose.

“They have the equipment and the knowledge that it takes to see someone in an overdose and when to intervene,” Melesa Lassiter, Regional Overdose Prevention Specialist, said.

At the end of the presentation, she gave away opioid overdose reversal kits, which come with a two-pack of Narcan.

“It’s all the same nasal Narcan that we issued today from the state of Tennessee under the State Targeted Response, STR, grant,” she said.

The training is open to anyone, not just law enforcement officials.

“We welcome anyone to attend these trainings. We don’t isolate any individual,” she said.

Parham says he is glad he and his employees  have the training.

“It’s kind of a relief if we run into that situation, we’ll know what to do and have the kits to prevent someone from dying until emergency help gets there.”

The next open training will be on October 1 at 6 p.m. at the Benton County EMS Center, located at 152 N. Forest Avenue in Camden.