BOWLING GREEN, OH (WTOL) - It was a full house Tuesday evening at a free Narcan training in Bowling Green. People young and old came to learn how to save a life. But not everyone who showed up knows someone who's addicted.
The next free training will be Wednesday at 4 p.m. at 541 west Wooster Street.
Rob Goldsmith, a student studying Neuroscience at BGSU, said he came to be proactive about the problem.
"It definitely has touched college students," he said. "I would say locally, we don't have much of an opiate epidemic but it's still something that's important to be mindful of, and be actively participating in the community."
The whole country is facing a heroin epidemic, and Wood County is no exception, according to Zepf Center directors.
"There's quite a problem, we just don't hear it as much," said Dr. Kevin Kendzierski, Medical Director at Zepf Center.
He was the instructor at the training, and he says dealers have brought heroin to Tiffin, Gibsonburg and other communities.
"We've got Findlay, we've got Lima, I've got people from Sandusky," Kendzierski explained.
And he said much of the street heroin now has the potent drug, Fentanyl mixed in.
"And It's much easier for an overdose. So what we wanted to do was get these Narcan kits into just about everyone's hand that's either a significant other, has friends family, whatever that's using them. And hopefully we can at some point save a life and actually get them back into treatment because it works, "Kendzierski said.
That's why the Zepf Center has received a gr ant to give these free trainings and hand out free Naloxone kits to help with an overdose wherever it may happen.
"I think it gives people a little bit more feeling of at ease to be able to administer this when it's needed," said Aimee Coe, the Zepf Center Director.
And Coe said education is the key, to help people feel less scared, and more prepared, when a someone's life is at stake.
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