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Overcast Glen Cove Fire Department focuses on scourge of fentanyl
Last Nov. 16, Paige Gibbons attended a sleepover with two friends. Gibbons and one of the other girls, also named Paige bought what they thought was Percocet from an illicit dealer, hoping to ease some of their stress. They were unaware that it was laced with pure fentanyl.
Gibbons died four days after taking a small nibble of a pill. Her friend, who ingested a smaller amount, suffered two strokes, but survived, spending weeks in a critical-care unit.
Cornnie Kaufman, Gibbon’s grandmother, told her 19-year-old granddaughter’s story in May at the Glen Cove City Fire Department, during an event at which community members learned how to use naloxone, or Narcan. The nasal spray is designed to rapidly reverse an opioid overdose.
Kaufman has shared the story of her granddaughter’s sudden, tragic death countless times in the six months since her loss, in the hope that it will serve as a warning, to prevent other families from experiencing the same grief.
“You might say the surviving Paige was lucky,” Kaufman said. “But I fear the lifetime emotional burden will be unbearable. These young souls were not drug addicts. They wanted to relax.”
Fentanyl is a strong synthetic opioid that has been used in clinical settings for decades. It is often described as 80 to 100 times stronger than morphine, and 50 times stronger than heroin. One kilogram of fentanyl has the potential to kill 500,000 people.
According to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, synthetic opioids like fentanyl are the primary driver of overdose deaths in the United States. A comparison between Jan. 31, 2020, and Jan. 31, 2021, found that overdose deaths involving opioids rose 38.1 percent.
“It can happen to anyone,” Kaufman said. “This demon drug knows no boundaries, and it’s taking people from all walks of life.”
There are two types of fentanyl, the pharmaceutical variety and the illicitly manufactured version. Pharmaceutical fentanyl is prescribed by doctors to treat severe pain, especially after surgery and for advanced-stage cancer. Most fentanyl-related overdoses, however, are linked to the illicitly manufactured version, which is distributed in illegal drug markets and sought for its heroin-like effect. It is often added to other drugs because of its extreme potency, which makes them more powerful, more addictive and more dangerous.
Kaufman launched the Families Against Fentanyl campaign, which advocates for Narcan kits to be available in every middle and high school nurse’s office on Long Island. She is also urging Nassau County to distribute fentanyl test strips by bundling them with Narcan kits and giving them to all who seek them. As well, she wants to increase awareness about fentanyl through campaigns in public schools.
County Legislator Delia DeRiggi-Whitton, who cosponsored the event with the Fire Department, supports a bill that would require fentanyl-detecting test strips to be included in Narcan kits distributed by county agencies. The strips, which cost $1 each, help identify tainted drugs and prevent accidental overdoses.
A strip must contact fentanyl to detect it. If a user has ingested a substance such as marijuana or heroin and has an unexpectedly dangerous reaction, the substance can be dissolved in water and a strip can determine in five minutes whether fentanyl has been cut into it.
“Narcan is a lifesaver, and it really works,” DeRiggi-Whitton said. “It’s one of the tools we have to fight against this.”
The training included how to spot the signs of an opiate overdose, and participants were shown how to administer intranasal naloxone to reverse an overdose. People suffering from the effects of fentanyl have constricted pupils, and will fall asleep or lose consciousness. They will have slow or weak breathing and a limp body. They may make choking or gurgling sounds and have discoloration around their lips and nails.
In the event of an overdose, a 911 call should be followed by the administration of naloxone in one of the victim’s nostrils. Bystanders should keep the victim awake and turn them on their side to prevent choking until paramedics arrive.
Bystanders shouldn’t worry about legal repercussions. The state Good Samaritan law allows people to call 911 without fear of arrest if they see someone who is overdosing.
Aside from the kits and test strips, another powerful tool to help fight the use of opiates is mental health awareness. Calle Panakos, the coordinator of education and training at the Nassau County Office of Mental Health, Chemical Dependency and Developmental Disabilities Services, trained attendees on recognizing the signs of overdose. She demonstrated how to use the nasal spray, but also emphasized the importance of mental and emotional well-being of victims and their families.
“They are your friends, family and coworkers,” Panakos said. “Connect with that person who is experiencing this difficulty. You need to put your feet in that person’s shoes and let them know they’re not alone.”
