Fentanyl awareness event planned for this evening in Bishop

Program to be held at Calvary Baptist open to public

Area health care partners and law enforcement agencies are teaming up for a fentanyl awareness event that is free and open to the public at the Calvary Baptist Church, 1100 West Line St., Bishop.

The program is scheduled to start at 5:30 p.m. with doors opening at 5 p.m.

According to organizers, there will be a panel representing law enforcement, health care, harm reduction, youth prevention and education.

The program is designed to provide the facts about fentanyl, strategies to stay safe, what youth are facing, and treatment options.

Refreshments and snacks will be available along with local resources.

There also will be a special celebration for people in recovery.

Parents and teens strongly encouraged to attend, according to organizers.

Those attending will be able to receive training on recognizing signs and symptoms of an opioid overdose as well as training on opioid overdose reversal kits, or Narcan.

Agencies involved in the program include the Bishop Police Department, the Owens Valley Career Development Center, the Bishop Paiute Tribe, Northern Inyo Healthcare District, the Bishop Paiute Tribe’s Relief After Violent Encounters (RAVE), Southern Inyo Healthcare District and the Toiyabe Indian Health Project.

For more information about the event, call Arlene Brown, (760) 8732056.

Facts about fentanyl

NIHD provided the following regarding fentanyl:

• Fentanyl is tasteless, odorless.

• A synthetic opioid 80-100 times stronger than morphine.

• Can be mixed with other drugs such as cocaine, meth, heroin and pressed pills.

• Can be injected, smoked or snorted.

• Highly addictive.

• Naloxone works on fentanyl overdoses.

• More youth die from fentanyl than heroin, meth, cocaine, benzos and prescription drugs combined.

NIHD’s Rural Health Clinic’s Addiction Treatment Program wants students and families to know the dangers of fentanyl and how to prevent a fatal overdose from happening, according to the district.

• Talk to your friends, children and family members about the dangers of fentanyl.

• Everyone should know how to use Narcan and every parent should have Narcan at home.

• Fentanyl is here in the community and has contributed to a rise in national and local overdoses.

• Narcan (Naloxone) reverses opioid overdose.

• If you suspect an opioid overdose call 911 and administer Narcan.

For more information or free Narcan, call: Recovery Support Navigator, (760) 920-0362; Syringe Service Planner, (760) 920-0322; Rural Health Clinic-MAT Program, (760) 873-2849; NIH Emergency Department (760) 873-5811.