Riverdale businesses learn how to respond to overdose and save lives

Riverdale-area business owners learned how to reverse an opioid overdose at a naloxone training hosted Sept. 22 by the Kingsbridge-Riverdale-Van Cortlandt Development Corporation.

The training took place at Home BX Steakhouse, located at 224 W. 238th St., and was part of an effort to prepare local merchants for emergencies — some of which could be fatal without proper intervention.

Naloxone is a life-saving medication capable of rapidly reversing an opioid overdose by blocking opioid receptors in the brain. It restores normal breathing within minutes if a person is suffering from an overdose caused by opiates, including prescription painkillers and fentanyl, according to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. It is also commonly known as Narcan, which is one brand of ready-to-use naloxone, administered as a nasal spray.

Lillian Neuman, director of community outreach and prevention education at St. Vincent’s Westchester, led the session. Neuman has spent about 30 years helping people get sober. She became a New York state-registered trainer in 2015 and has since trained about 7,000 people in life-saving knowledge, including at events like this one, she said.

“I want everyone to have a kit. I really do, because you can save someone’s life, and it’s so easy,” Neuman said.

Businesses are a natural fit for the training because they serve the public every day, according to Neuman.

“Anywhere the public is, I want them to have knowledge,” she said. “If you didn’t have any customers and you were here by yourself, you don’t need a kit.”

Laura Levine-Pinedo, executive director of KRVC, said the training was especially important for the neighborhood’s restaurants and bars. Several more merchants wanted to attend the training but could not, Levine-Pinedo said, and KRVC hopes to reach them in the future.

“I think it’s very important for our hospitality and nightlife industry to be prepared in an emergency,” Levine-Pinedo said. “It’s just the reality of it. People are drinking, and they may have these addictions.”

Norman Martinez, owner of Home BX Steakhouse and a member of the KRVC board, hosted the event and also took the training himself.

“I think everybody should know how to use Narcan,” Martinez said. “A lot of people are scared to do something, because in the city you can get sued for everything. It’s free to use, and you can use it. That’s what’s important.”

Neuman addressed some of the common fears people have about administering the life-saving medication at the training.

“If they’re having a heart attack, it’s not going to hurt them,” Neuman said. “And if there’s opiates on board, it will save their life.”

She also addressed the fear of being sued.

“People say to me, ‘Lil, am I protected?’ The answer is yes,” Neuman said. “The New York Public Health Law protects you when you’re using Narcan to save someone’s life.”

New York Public Health Law provides liability protection for qualifying naloxone responders acting reasonably and in good faith. Separately, the state’s 911 Good Samaritan Law provides certain protections against criminal charges and prosecution when someone seeks emergency assistance during an overdose.

The most important sign of an overdose is unresponsiveness, Neuman said. Other signs include bluish lips and fingernails, gurgling breathing and pinpoint pupils.

“If they’re unconscious, I’m getting this,” she said, holding up a kit.

Neuman advised bystanders to point to a specific person and tell them to call 911, then administer the nasal spray.

“You peel the back, you place it, and you plunge it,” she said.

The person should then be rolled onto their side because reversal can cause vomiting. If there is no response in two to three minutes, a second dose should go in the other nostril. With fentanyl in the drug supply, two doses may not be enough.

“Sometimes six, sometimes eight,” Neuman said. “You don’t know how much they’re taking.”

Because naloxone lasts only 30 to 90 minutes, a person can overdose again after waking up, which is why calling for emergency responders is essential. Neuman urged businesses to install naloxone boxes and encouraged people to carry kits openly.

“It’s not a secret. It’s not illegal,” she said. “I take mine on the plane with me.”

Shame still keeps many people away from training, Neuman said, because they fear others will assume someone in their home uses drugs. But overdoses can happen to anyone, including young people who take counterfeit pills unknowingly.

“Your kid could be at a party and someone gives them something,” Neuman said. “Why not have it?”

Neuman also runs a support group for families affected by addiction and said too few people attend.

“They’re suffering in silence,” she said. “That’s why I want you to go out and talk about it, so that you break the silence and the stigma. You have to be my ambassador. To the world, we’re only one person. But to one person, you are their world, and that’s why I do this.”