Narcan Rescue Station Program Bring Battle Against Opioid Deaths to Hampton Bays

Stony Brook Eastern Long Island Hospital has expanded its lifesaving Narcan Rescue Station Program to the businesses in Hampton Bays.

As a result of a presentation on the Narcan Rescue Station initiative to the Hampton Bays Rotary Club earlier this year, club members looked to expand the program through a community training event.

Each Narcan Rescue Station includes four doses of Narcan nasal spray, a fentanyl test strip, CPR protective breathing shield, a “Narcan Rescue Station” sign to be displayed wherever the kit is installed (as one would with a first aid kit or AED defibrillator paddles), and “lots of instructions,” according to an SBELIH representative, who also noted the stations are resupplied free of charge by Community Action for Social Justice (CASJ).

The free event was recently held on Thursday, April 17 at the Hampton Bays Ambulance building. Local business owners and concerned citizens gathered to hear firsthand accounts and expert insights from Lt. William Kiernan of the Southampton Town Police Department; Briana Gladding, paramedic with Hampton Bays Volunteer Ambulance; Rick Nydegger, Chief of the Hampton Bays Fire Department; and Dr. Daniel Van Arsdale of Stony Brook Medicine.

Lt. Kiernan shared a powerful story from the early days of Narcan use within the police department, recalling how he saved a teenager’s life just two weeks after receiving his training. “Within a minute of administering Narcan, the victim regained consciousness,” he said.

Paramedic Briana Gladding noted that many individuals who receive Narcan are not always abusing opioids. “Often, they are adults who accidentally overdose by forgetting they’ve already taken their medication,” she explained.

Chief Nydegger shared a painful personal account, reflecting on how access to Narcan could have made a difference in his own family following the tragic overdose of his son. After the session, he picked up multiple Narcan kits to equip all Hampton Bays Fire Department Chiefs’ vehicles.

Gina Chinese, representing CASJ, led a hands-on training session followed by a Q&A, offering attendees practical knowledge and tools to respond to opioid-related emergencies.

Local business leaders from Skidmore’s, Pooltastic Poolworks, Legacy Optical, Station Bar, Barnyard, Sayville Inn, Rapid Recovery, Flanders Men’s Club, and Southampton Publick House took part in the initiative, picking up Narcan Rescue Stations and additional doses for their establishments.

Thanks to the event, SBELIH says others have now expressed interest in obtaining supplies, calling it “a strong community response to the growing effort.”

With this new effort in Hampton Bays, SBELIH and its partners continue to combat the opioid crisis, taking proactive steps to deliver education, access and compassion where they says it is needed most.

Between January 2023 and January 2024, there were more than 105,000 drug overdose deaths in the United States, according to provisional data from the U.S. Centers of Disease Control and Prevention, and the majority of those were from opioids.