- My name is Ed Fox.

I'm the director of Project Safe Point.

I'm going to do an opiate overdose prevention training for you all today.

Project Safe Point is a public health program that provides harm reduction services to the Capital District.

So our service area is 12 counties surrounding the Capital Region.

It's a big area to serve, with a lot of different needs and a lot of different ways to deliver service.

So we do Narcan trainings in the community, and we will do a Narcan training in the middle of the street, in a jailhouse, in a treatment center, in someone's home.

Anywhere there's opiates, there also needs to be Narcan.

I don't want to walk out that door until everyone in the room is comfortable using Narcan.

That's like number one point.

Narcan, it's an opiate antagonist.

All it does, it kicks that opiate after a receptor.

I like to say that when you're doing a Narcan training, it's a conversation as much as anything else 'cause we're always wanting to hear, you know, feedback and people's questions.

- Hi, how's it going?

Come on in.

So, identifying an overdose, there's a couple of things that you wanna look out for.

The person will be unresponsive, have either very shallow breathing or no really audible breathing.

- When we talk about just the overdose crisis we've seen over the years, I think everyone has been impacted in some way.

Everyone knows someone who's been affected by this.

We see how, you know, communities are impacted and how individuals are impacted, how families are impacted.

Fentanyl is in everything.

Being such a powerful opiate itself, it's, you know, super, super dangerous.

You know, it's 15 to 20 times stronger than heroin, it's 80 to 100 times stronger than morphine, it's out there, it's cheap, it's available, it's everywhere.

Our approach as a harm reduction agency, a harm reduction program, is to actually, you tell me what do you need today?

What will work for you today?

And taking that approach, whatever service is needed, when the service is needed, and no judgment ever.

Our syringe exchange program, which is really, really important program, it's a baseline program for us, and it's very important that people are safe 'cause we are about disease prevention, HIV and hepatitis C prevention.

We have low access buprenorphine.

That's a very important service for individuals because when someone's ready for change, and being able to do that quickly is extremely important 'cause the moment may not last, but when the moment comes, being able to react to that is, you know, really important.

We are making sure that they're in a safe place and that when they're ready for that change, then, you know, we're there to support that.

- Eight years ago was the last time I used heroin.

Sometimes it takes addicts multiple rehabs and multiple tries, and for them to actually get it, you know, for the recovery to stick.

And a lot of addicts don't even get that chance.

Narcan has saved my life.

I've saved two boyfriends' lives with Narcan.

I've saved a few other people's lives.

I've been doing this for 10 years.

I've been doing this before I was even old enough to drink.

You know, I was 19 when I started this process.

I'm 29 now.

And I think, and I hope and I pray that, you know, and thank God that I have had this many tries, you know, because a lot of people haven't.

But that because I get up and try again and try again, that it will stick.

Where I am in my journey, even sober, you know, it's safe to always have Narcan in my car because I think it's safe to say that everybody's been affected by this opiate epidemic.

And, you know, instead of turning a blind eye to what's going on, let's get together and, you know, be safe and, you know, go to the Narcan trainings and carry the Narcan in our glove box because what if you pull up in a parking lot and you see somebody passed out?

Chances are these days, they're not sleeping anymore.

Chances are they're probably overdosed in that car.

And if you knock on that window and they don't wake up, you need to open that door and you need to give them Narcan and call 911, you know, because chances are you could save their life.