New London — From emotional personal stories of addiction to tips on available treatments, a group of panelists on Wednesday offered their thoughts on how to battle the growing heroin epidemic.

Shine A Light on Heroin, a volunteer group working to raise awareness about the local heroin problem, welcomed the panelists for the second of two events in New London in the past week. The group held a “Night of Heroes” over the weekend at Ocean Beach Park.

Lawrence + Memorial Emergency Services Coordinator Ron Kersey, a longtime paramedic, started the discussion with his firsthand experiences with what he called “tragic and needless loss of life from overdoses.”

“It is a public health threat; it is in our community and in our own backyard,” Kersey said. “The problem keeps getting worse, the numbers continue to grow.”

Kersey spoke about the use of Narcan, a drug that temporarily reverses the effects of an opioid such as heroin and in many cases saves the life of an overdose patient who has stopped breathing. In 2014, Kersey said L+M paramedics administered Narcan more than 40 times.

Coincidentally, Gov. Dannel P. Malloy on Wednesday released a statement praising the state Senate’s unanimous vote on a bill that “increasing the effectiveness of the state’s prescription monitoring program, continued education requirements for practitioners and greater availability of the overdose reversing drug naloxone (Narcan) in case of emergency.”

Holly Cekala, executive director of R.I. Cares, manager of the Providence center and 12 years sober, spoke from personal experience about how the proliferation of painkillers has contributed to the epidemic.

Cekela said she was addicted to alcohol when she was involved in a motor vehicle crash in Groton that left her with a broken neck and spine. She was in a coma before recovering and leaving the hospital with an opiate dependency.

She said there are a variety of pathways to recovery.

“It could be the 12-step program that keeps you alive for the next 20 years. It could be riding a bike,” she said.

Other panelists explained chemical options that include methadone, suboxone and vivitrol. Most agreed that a support network after detoxification was key to longer-term success in kicking the habit.

New London Police Sgt. Rob Pickett said there were eight heroin-related deaths in New London last year and four more between January and April.

New London Police Investigator Brian Laurie, in a blunt manner, said the real problem was getting the dealers off the streets and into prison.

“They are not afraid of state prosecution,” Laurie said of dealers. “We had an individual who was selling 100 grams a week — one of the bigger drug dealers in New London. He told one of our officers, ‘This is my city. I don’t care about the state. When the feds come to town, I’ll start to care.’”

Laurie said that man is now doing nine years in federal prison, but the point is that dealers are getting lighter sentences because of weakened drug laws. The dealers are also preying on recovering addicts, he said.

Rounding out Wednesday’s panel was Christa Quattromani, who Shine A Light On Heroin founder Jim Spellman called the inspiration for the group.

Quattromani told a painful story of her repeated overdoes and attempts to come clean off heroin, which she had started using after becoming addicted to painkillers following an injury.

“Heroin was the better and cheaper alternative to pills,” Quattromani said.

Wednesday’s event attracted about 80 people to New London High School for short presentations with booths in the school lobby offering information about things like treatment services.

g.smith@theday.com

Twitter: @SmittyDay