Warren County agencies, with people dressed in purple, observed Overdose Awareness Day on Wednesday at Gen. Joseph Warren Park.

The goal is to raise awareness of overdose and reduce the stigma attached to drug-related death.

“If we don’t know about it, we can’t do anything about it,” Family Services of Warren County Director of Substance Abuse Services Andrew Cauley said.

Talking about the problem is a key step, but the stigma acts to prevent the spread of information.

Times Observer photo by Brian Ferry Among the information, services, and products available Wednesday at an Overdose Awareness Day event at Gen. Joseph Warren Park were opioid overdose kits containing Narcan, courtesy of Forest-Warren Human Services. Narcan – which can reverse opioid overdoses – is available at no cost at many pharmacies and online by visiting www.nextdistro.org.

Family Services Executive Director Kim Holt said there was more public participation in the event this year than in past years – an encouraging sign. In addition to a more public venue, the subject is becoming less taboo, she said. “People are talking more openly about the loved ones they’ve lost.”

Being able to act quickly in the event of an overdose is another key step and the event had a focus on the availability and use of Narcan.

“Narcan is a medication that is widely available and almost always free,” Cauley said. “It removes opiates from the receptor sites to reverse an overdose.”

“It can restore breathing to someone who is overdosing,” he said.

The medication is limited. It only helps in cases of opioid overdoses. But, it doesn’t hurt the recipient if it is administered to someone who has symptoms of overdose, but has a different problem.

Forest-Warren Human Services gave away about 50 kits each containing multiple doses of Narcan at the event.

“It’s really important that we get as much as we can out in the community because a person that’s overdosing can’t save themselves,” Cauley said.

He cited Centers for Disease Control and Prevention statistics that indicate about 80 percent of overdoses occur inside a home and about 40 percent are witnessed.

“A lot of overdoses are preventable,” he said.

But, “the stigma of substance use and the fear of retribution” make people slow to act and slow to ask for help, he said. “It’s our responsibility – an unfortunate responsibility – to make this available.”

Those present released biodegradable balloons in remembrance of those lost to substance use and overdose.

Joining Family Services and Forest-Warren Human Services in providing information and services at the event were the Warren County YMCA, Warren General Hospital, Beacon Light Behavioral Health, Deerfield Behavioral Health, Crossroads Behavioral Health Services, PA Thrive, and the Pennsylvania Department of Health.

“It takes a village,” Holt said. “No one person or even one agency can turn around what’s happening.”