LICADD To Offer Free Overdose Prevention Training on December 16th

In the past few years, Long Island has seen a dramatic increase in heroin and other opioid overdoses. In most cases, these fatalities are preventable through education, mouth-to-mouth resuscitation, and when possible, through the administration of Naloxone (Narcan).  The Long Island Council on Alcoholism and Drug Dependence, Inc. (LICADD) is pleased to have recently received certification from the New York State Department of Health to operate an Opioid Overdose Prevention Program and conduct community-based trainings for health care professionals, treatment center staff, parents and young people.

LICADD Leadership Council member Dr. Tom Jan will serve as the project’s medical director and will join the agency’s clinical staff in conducting regular trainings across our region. The first training – to be co-sponsored by the NYS Department of Health AIDS Institute and the NYC Harm Reduction Coalition – will be held on Thursday, December 16, 2010 from 10:00AM-12:00 Noon at Seafield’s Training Center located at 37 John Street in Amityville. In this two-hour workshop, participants will learn the essentials of opioid overdose prevention, will receive certification as Trained Overdose Responders, and become qualified to train heroin or opioid users and colleagues at their own facilities on how to prevent an overdose.

“As our region wrestles with an unprecedented heroin crisis, we are losing more than three hundred Long Islanders per year to fatal overdoses, which is an absolute crime since overdoses are 100% preventable,” said LICADD Executive Director Dr. Jeffrey L. Reynolds. “A shot of Narcan costs less than $3.00 and can be administered in less than a minute. We need to make sure that more people – including parents and young people – have the knowledge, skills and tools to save a life,” he added. This workshop is FREE, CASAC credits may be available and this training is open to everyone. To register, please call Shanella Walters at LICADD at 516-747-2606.

LICADD is aggressively helping families find effective addiction treatment and remains Long Island’s only non-profit agency conducting planned family interventions. LICADD provides expert evaluation and early intervention services to individuals, children and families impacted by substance abuse, and spearheads evidence-based prevention education programs in a variety of settings.