If you live with someone who abuses opioids, a couple of doses of naloxone should be in the medicine cabinet, right next to the Tylenol and Band-Aids.

It could be in your purse and in your car, too.

Naloxone was used to reverse opioid overdoses in 95 Kane County residents in 2023. More than half of those doses – 54% – were given in the home, Kane County Substance Use Prevention Coordinator Sharon Cabrera explained in a virtual training.

First responders file overdose reversal forms to the health department, Cabrera said during an Aug. 26 online training.

“Eighty-two were reversed. Thirteen individuals, unfortunately, not surviving or we don’t really know the outcome,” Cabrera said.

But the fact that more than half were given at home stresses the importance of having a two-dose kit in the house, Cabrera said.

In “How to Prevent an Opioid Overdose with Naloxone,” Cabrera explained how to tell the difference between someone who is high – and someone who is in a life-threatening situation from an overdose.

From 2018 to 2023, Kane County emergency departments had 2,224 opioid-related overdose visits; 417 died; the average age at death was 40 and most, 70%, were men, she said.

Nationwide, 224 people died every day from an opioid overdose in 2022, according to the U.Centers for Disease Control and Prevention.

Those at risk, Cabrera said, have chronic medical conditions, a recent release from detox or incarceration or discharge after an opioid overdose.

Opioids are synthetic drugs that act on the brain to relieve pain or anxiety. They include codeine, morphine, hydromorphone, fentanyl, methadone and the illegal drug, heroin.

They can be addictive and lead to overdose deaths.

Naloxone is an opioid antagonist that binds to the opioid receptors and reverses their effect. It only works on opioids.

The increased distribution of naloxone – also known as Narcan – is credited in part with reducing opioid overdose deaths in Illinois by nearly 10%, Cabrera said.

In 2022, 3,160 people died in Illinois from opioid overdose. In 2023, those deaths were reduced by 305 to 2,855, records show.

“The difference between an overdose and someone who is really high – it might look the same,” Cabrera said. “When someone is really high, they will definitely be relaxed. Their speech might be slow or slurred. They’ll definitely be sleepy-looking. ... And they’ll have a normal-ish skin tone.”

A person who is high will be responsive to shouting, sternum rubs or earlobe pinches, Cabrera said.

A sternal rub involves using the knuckles of a closed fist to rub the middle of the sternum firmly to get a response.

“If someone is overdosing and you give them a good sternal rub – they won’t respond,” Cabrera said. “Because when someone is in an overdose, they’re already like down – they’re fighting for their life.”

If a person does not respond after waiting two to three minutes from the first dose, give the second dose in the other nostril and stay while waiting for the first responders.

Cabrera also said the person overdosing should be turned on their side, with hands under their cheek and the top knee bent over to stop them from rolling back.

Those who assist a person in the throes of an overdose are protected from being arrested for having drugs, as well as the person who overdosed, she said.

Their legal protections come from not wanting people who are overdosing to be left in hotel rooms or restrooms or dropped off in front of an emergency room.

Naloxone is free and available at various locations in Kane County, including in the sheriff’s office entrance, 37W755 Illinois State Route 38, St. Charles, at Northwestern Medicine Delnor Hospital ER lobby, 300 S. Randall Road, Geneva; at the Batavia Public Library, 10 S. Batavia Ave., Batavia; in the lobby at the St. Charles Police Department, 1515 W. Main St., St. Charles; at vape shops, gas stations, hotels and retail shops.

The Kane County Health Department website shows a map where naloxone is available throughout the county at www.kanehealth.com.