LOUISVILLE, Ky. (WDRB) -- Four hundred doses of a life-saving medication landed in Floyd County on Wednesday as the state continues its fight against the drug epidemic.
The Highlander Fire Protection District was given the Indiana Department of Health grant for 2025 as part of the "First Responder Comprehensive Addiction and Recovery Act for Naloxone." It provided the fire district with the doses of Naloxone, also known as Narcan, a medication used to reverse or reduce the effects of opioids.
"As the only community or fire-based EMS system in Floyd County, we felt it was great to really build on those partnerships and better serve our community," Cody Makin, training safety officer for the fire district, said.
Narcan is a nasal spray that works by blocking the effects of opiates on the brain and by restoring breathing. It is used for people suffering an overdose from opioids such as fentanyl, heroin, and prescription opioid medications, according to the Center for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC).
"The best way for the person to reverse an overdose is to breathe for the person," Keith Young, paramedic captain for the fire district, said. "Just because you have the Narcan, if they're not breathing it's not going to help. ... Use what you can to breathe for that person and give them the Narcan at the same time."
Young added that the potency of drugs has increased, which requires more Narcan to be used.
"The biggest one in this area is heroin laced with fentanyl," he said.
However, hard drugs aren't the only concern. Young said the department will get an occasional call about elderly individuals who forgot they'd already taken their medication.
"It's been common, recently, to see more overdoses with prescription drugs, especially in our older populations," he said, adding that it is possible to accidentally overdose on prescription drugs.
"If you were to have surgery tomorrow, and your doctor prescribed you with narcotic pain medication, I feel they should also prescribe you with a Narcan of some sort, or Naloxone, so that way you have that in case of an accidental overdose either by you or someone else in your home," Young said.
The effects of overdoses aren't just felt in southern Indiana, but across the river in Louisville.
Ben Goldman, director of Behavioral Health at the Louisville Metro Department of Public Health and Wellness, said opioids exist in the unregulated drug department, but they also exist in the regulated drug market through prescription narcotics.
That's part of the reason why officials say it's more important now more than ever for residents to have access to free Narcan.
"Every day in our community, lives are being saved by bystanders, by EMS, by first responders. Any resident can be a hero, any person can save a life," Goldman said. "We're seeing a lot of people who don't think about themselves as being at risk of an overdose who are experiencing an overdose."
Goldman said every Louisville Fire station offers 24/7 access to the free medication. To learn more about Louisville's overdose prevention initiatives, click here. For information about the city's Harm Reduction Outreach Services, click here. To find free Narcan in Kentucky, click here.
A box containing free Narcan, also known as Naloxone, outside the Louisville Fire Department's Station No. 9 on Wednesday, July 23, 2025. It's a medication administered nasally through a spray that works to block the effects of opiates on the brain during a potential overdose. (Ariana Shuka/WDRB photo)
Back in Floyd County, Young said Narcan is a safe medication that only reacts to opioids. He said it does that by binding to the pain receptors in the body so opioids cannot enter.
"If you or I were to take Narcan right now, it would just be like a squirt of water in the nose," he said.
Fire officials, along with the Floyd County Sheriff's Office, the coroner's office and the Georgetown Fire Department, will provide their personnel with the Narcan to first responders to have on hand when they respond to calls throughout the area.
"For us, it's going to allow us to work a lot more with our community representatives," said Young. "And we're able to give them the training that they need for it."
The overdose reversal medication has become more common and more readily available throughout communities via distribution drives and vending machines, like the one installed a few years ago outside the Sellersburg Fire Department. Many local police and fire departments have boxes outside their stations stocked with the medication. Some businesses and churches also keep it on hand.
"When I first started, it was not very common," Young said. "Over the last 10 years, there's been a definite spike that we've seen. Over the last three or four years, we've seen that spike start to drop off."
Young said the department received seven calls for overdoses last year.
"It's not nearly as high as it used to be but we still see maybe one or two cases a month," he said.
Community resources, Narcan training
Several organizations, health departments and community partners also offer training for those who want to know how to use Narcan properly.
Indiana University offers a 30-minute online training course through IU Prevention Insights for those who live and/or work in Clark or Floyd counties in southern Indiana. It's part of the Citizen Opioid Responders Program. The goal is to get more community members trained to know how to administer the medication.
Those in Floyd and Clark counties who complete the course can bring their certificate of completion to receive Narcan at no cost from the Floyd County or Clark County Health departments. The courses will teach you how to administer the medication, and how to find where you can get free Narcan in your community. To learn more or sign up for a training session, click here.
The Floyd County Health Department also has Narcan available free of charge to the community at its location at 1918 Bono Road in New Albany. For additional information, call the Floyd County Health Department at (812) 948-4726.
The Indiana Department of Health also offers virtual trainings that are free and self-paced. The trainings cover several topics, including overdose statistics, stigma reduction, Narcan administration and treatment options for those with substance use disorder. To learn more or find a training to sign up for, click here. For additional resources and information about overdose prevention through the IDOH, click here. To find out where to get free Narcan in Indiana, click here.
In November 2024, the CDC reported a 19.2% reduction in overdose deaths in Indiana, eight years after the state experienced an "unprecedented crisis" of opioid deaths. The state health department says it's still making progress in its ongoing fight against the drug epidemic.
According to the CDC's drug overdose data by state, Indiana experienced 41 fatal overdoses per 100,000 people in 2022, reporting 2,682 overdose deaths for that year. To look at the agency's data on provisional drug overdose deaths, where you can search for a specific state and county for death counts over a 12-month period, click here. As of December 2024, the CDC reported 35 provisional drug overdose deaths in Floyd County, and 55 in Clark County.
The CDC reported in May that the overdose death rate had decreased by almost 27% nationwide. Data showed an estimated 80,391 drug overdose deaths in 2024, a 26.9% decrease from 110,037 overdose deaths reported in 2023. The agency projects annual drug overdose deaths in the U.S. to reach their lowest level since 2019.
Also in May, Kentucky health officials reported a decrease in overdose deaths for a third-straight year. Gov. Andy Beshear and health officials announced that overdose deaths dropped by more than 30% in 2024 compared to the previous year — from 1,984 deaths in 2023 to 1,410 in 2024, according to a new report from the Kentucky Office of Drug Control Policy.
Fentanyl and methamphetamine continue to be the leading drugs involved in overdose deaths in Kentucky, with fentanyl detected in 62.3% of cases and meth in 50.8%, the report showed.
Related Coverage:
Overdose deaths drop in Kentucky for 3rd straight year; state leaders credit prevention efforts
Despite decrease in Kentucky's fatal overdoses, Black communities face opposite trend
Free online Narcan training program offered for southern Indiana residents, employees
Jeffersontown Police installing 25 emergency boxes with overdose kits across the city
New Albany businesses providing Narcan for customers, Floyd County community
Floyd County Sheriff's Office, health department partnering for Narcan program
Indiana unveils first of 19 planned Naloxone vending machines in the state
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