Public Radio for the Piedmont and High Country
Play Live Radio
Next Up:
0:00
0:00
0:00 0:00
Available On Air Stations

Forsyth County to host youth training on overdose prevention July 8

Narcan spray
Mark Schiefelbein
/
AP
Naloxone, also known by its brand name Narcan, is used to reverse opioid overdoses.

Forsyth County's Behavioral Health Services department is hosting a youth training on opioid overdose prevention and awareness on Tuesday.

The hour-and-a-half-long training is open to children between the ages of 12 and 18.

Hannah Phillips, a substance use health educator with the county, will talk to them about the impacts of opioids and teach them harm reduction strategies to prevent overdoses.

“I kind of compare it to knowing how to do CPR," Phillips said. "Knowing how to give Naloxone is a first responder skill that you hope you never have to use, but it could save someone's life if you are in that situation.”

There will be a simultaneous session held in another room for parents about how they can talk to their teens about drug use.

Between January 1 and June 30 of this year, 50 substance-use related 911 calls have been made in Forsyth County for children 18 and under.

Philips says the calls for this age group tend to be about prescription drugs or synthetic marijuana.

More information about the training can be found on the county’s website.

Amy Diaz began covering education in North Carolina’s Piedmont region and High Country for WFDD in partnership with Report For America in 2022. Before entering the world of public radio, she worked as a local government reporter in Flint, Mich. where she was named the 2021 Rookie Writer of the Year by the Michigan Press Association. Diaz is originally from Florida, where she interned at the Sarasota Herald-Tribune and freelanced for the Tampa Bay Times. She holds a bachelor’s degree in journalism from the University of South Florida, but truly got her start in the field in elementary school writing scripts for the morning news. You can follow her on Twitter at @amydiaze.

Support quality journalism, like the story above,
with your gift right now.

Donate