The Saugerties Police Department was certified as an Opioid Prevention Provider last week through the New York State Department of Health. Now “Opioid Prevention Trainers” Officer David Stoutenburgh and Chief Joe Sinagra can teach interested parties how to administer Narcan, the only FDA-approved nasal form of naloxone for the treatment of an opioid overdose.
Sinagra said the state Department of Health will now provide Narcan for the police department, allowing police to stockpile the life-saving drug, and that the certification will facilitate more frequent training classes.
“[In the past] we’d have to schedule with them and they would tell us what available days they had and … send trainers from Albany,” said Sinagra.
Sinagra said that, on average, Saugerties police officers revive two individuals per month using Narcan kits; this number does not include the number of individuals revived by Diaz Ambulance paramedics and members of Saugerties’ various volunteer fire departments.
“The sooner Narcan can be administered in a suspected opioid overdose, the better chances we have in saving someone’s life,” wrote Sinagra in a press release. “It is for this reason that the Saugerties Police Department has taken this endeavor on, in hopes of getting Narcan into the hands of those who are likely to witness or respond to an opioid overdose.”
Join the family! 
