Griswold PRIDE and Matt’s Mission have teamed up with local businesses to combat opioid overdose deaths by stocking naloxone. The partnership comes as the state experiences a 22% increase in opioid overdose deaths in 2020.

“It’s a way to save a life, give a second chance,” Matt’s Mission President Kathleen Dufficy said in a release. “The life you save administering Narcan is someone’s loved one, and may be their wake-up call to seek treatment.”

Participating businesses have kits with naloxone along with a guide for identifiying an overdose and what to do, including how to administer the drug, which reverses the effects of an opioid overdose. The state’s Good Samaritan law eliminates liability for a person administering naloxone or for a business or person if the naloxone doesn’t work.

Jewett City businesses stocked with the kits include Blades and Beauty Salon and Barbershop, Brewett City Pub, Capital Property Group, Comfort Inn, Frederick’s Hair Fashion Studios, Jewett City Greenhouse, Jewett City Spirit Shop, Paragon Co-Work Space, Rosa’s Latin Cuisine, SNSN Radio, and Two Sisters Shipping and Business Center.

Miranda Mahoney, project coordinator of Griswold PRIDE, serves on a committee tracking and combating opioid overdoses in the greater Norwich area, and fatal overdoses in Norwich have decreased over the last few months in part because of greater access to naloxone.

“By mapping our community’s overdoses, using the data from the committee, we were able to determine that the majority of our overdoses occur in the Borough,” she said in the release. “The next step was to saturate that area with naloxone so we can be better prepared to respond to an overdose and prevent it from being fatal. These businesses should be commended for taking a stand to carry this life-saving medication.”

For more information, visit griswoldpride.org.

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