By Chris Boyle (source)
The Suffolk County Police Department provided over 316 doses of Narcan to attendees at the Greater Patchogue Chamber of Commerce’s Alive After Five event on June 26, while The Purple Rock Project helped people memorialize their loved one’s lost to overdose by writing a name on a rock.
The Narcan training was being conducted by SCPD Emergency Medical Service Officer Jason Byron who works closely with the SCPD’s Behavioral Health Section and SCPD’s Community Relations Bureau. Byron educated the public on how accidental opioid exposures can affect individuals of any age, and that simply having Narcan in the home does not indicate substance abuse, but rather preparedness and care for loved ones.
Parents Lori Carbonaro and Carole Trottere, who both lost sons to fentanyl, met several family members who had lost loved ones to overdose.
“Writing a child’s name on a rock may seem like a small thing, but I think it is a way of saying to the world that their child was once here,” said Carbonaro, who lost her son Nicholas in 2014.
The finished memorial purple rocks are placed around parks and other locations, including Gabriel's Giving Tree Memorial & Recovery Garden at Suffolk County Environmental Center at the Scully Estate, 550 South Bay Avenue in Islip, as a reminder of how many Long Islanders have died from O.D. and fentanyl poisonings. Purple Rock Project also distributed information about Long Island Council on Alcoholism & Drug Dependence (LICADD), Gabriel’s Giving Tree and F.I.S.T.
Special thanks to SCPD’s Behavioral Health Section, Police Officers Bridget Topping, Gina Lauricella, and Nicholas Robbins, as well as Police Officers Bonnie Lynch and Vincent Maio from SCPD’s Community Relations Bureau, who assisted the Police Academy’s Emergency Medical Training Unit (EMTU) in delivering this critical education and training.
For more information about the Purple Rock Project: email catrottere@gmail.com. For more information about the SCPD’s Narcan training opportunities, contact 631-853-7067 or email jason.byron@suffolkcounty.gov
Look for the SCPD Narcan training table and the Purple Rocks at the following events this summer: