"Everybody should get this:" Local agencies train as Surgeon General asks as many people as possible to carry Narcan

It's not just first responders that are being asked to carry the life-saving drug Naloxone which is sometimes known as the brand name Narcan which can be used to revive someone that has overdosed.

Local agencies, even the Surgeon General want as many people as possible to carry Narcan.

"If a situation arises I know that I'm educated, trained, that I'm comfortable," said Recovery Coach Heidi Thompson with the Wisconsin Community Recovery Organization. She learned how to administer Narcan on Tuesday.

Thompson works with addicts every day but the reason she came to a Narcan training course runs deeper.

"I have a family history of addiction and alcoholism. My mother overdosed and died," Thompson said.

A grant helped to make the training on Tuesday possible.

Shelby Kuhn also with the Wisconsin Community Recovery Organization recommends family, friends, even community members learn how to use Narcan.

"Everybody should get this. Every single person in the United States knows someone who's impacted by opioid addiction, whether they know it or not," said Kuhn.

The Surgeon General publicly released the same recommendation last week saying "Be prepared, get Naloxone, save a life."

Everyone at the training on Tuesday went home with two doses of Narcan.

"If there was somebody there who had Narcan or had knowledge of it, there may have been a chance that she could have been saved," said Thompson. 

Narcan is available without a prescription in Wisconsin but the AIDS Resource Center of Wisconsin will give you a dose of intramuscular Naloxone and the training needed for free.