New funding will keep a life-saving tool in reach for Bexar County deputies who encounter people who are overdosing.
Narcan, a medication that rapidly reverses opioid overdoses when given to someone quickly, will be available to those deputies.
It has been nearly six months since 17-year-old Danica Kaprosy overdosed and died after taking a single fentanyl-laced pill.
Fentanyl is a synthetic opioid 50 times more potent than heroin.
Danica’s mother, Veronica Kaprosy, believes more lives could be saved if tools like Narcan were more readily available.
“Everybody needs Narcan in their home, in their purse, you know, because you don’t ever know,” Kaprosy said. “It could be happening somewhere. You’re walking, and you see something, and you know, you can help.”
At least 2,000 doses of Narcan, a 20-month supply, were purchased using money from a statewide opioid settlement. Previously, the county relied on grants to pay for it.
“So its come to the point where wherever you find Bexar County deputies, you will absolutely find Narcan not too far away and the training that goes along with it,” Sheriff Javier Salazar said.
Last year, patrol deputies administered Narcan 50 times in the field and 10 times in a jail setting.
Andrea Guerrero-Guajardo, Bexar County’s public health leader, said using Narcan can potentially help lead someone to a path of recovery.
“People are five times more likely to seek treatment after a harm reduction intervention, compared to abstinence from the drug,” Guerrero-Guajardo said.
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