New London — The Alliance for Living will be training people to administer Naloxone and giving out free kits of the life-saving opioid antidote, commonly known as Narcan, at an event at Williams Park on Aug. 31 to mark International Overdose Awareness Day.

“All you need to say is, ‘I know someone who might need this,’’’ said Carol Jones, director of medical case management for the Alliance for Living. The park is across the street from the Alliance for Living, an HIV/AIDS service organization and resource center headquartered at 154 Broad St.

The educational event, which is open to all, will run from 10 a.m. to 2 p.m. and will highlight treatment and prevention.

“We’ve gotten very involved in Naloxone distribution because of the number of recent overdoses,” said Jones. “We have kits. We have been trained to use them. When we realized it was International Overdose Day, we thought, ‘Let’s do something out in the open to promote awareness.’”

Providers will be on hand to talk about prevention and treatment, including Sue Levin, HIV counselor and case manager at Lawrence + Memorial Hospital, and representatives from the Southeastern Council on Alcohol and Drug Dependence.

International Overdose Awareness Day is touted by organizations across the globe as a day to remember those who have died, to reduce the stigma of overdose death and to provide information about prevention.

Heroin use, often precipitated by addiction to opioid pain medication, has increased among most age groups and all income levels, according to the Centers for Disease Control.

In Connecticut, the state chief medical examiner has projected that 440 people will die from heroin overdoses in 2016. Police have said many of the overdoses reported this year have involved the use of heroin laced with the powerful opiate fentanyl.

k.florin@theday.com