Tampa Bay faith leaders receiving Narcan training
TAMPA, Fla. - The opioid epidemic is a crisis in our community and local faith leaders say it’s time to act.
That’s one reason Live Tampa Bay recently held training sessions for 35 faith leaders in our community. The hope is to find different ways to reach people in more communities.
"So, reaching out to our faith community as part of that, it's a part of expanding the front line, making sure that we're getting help into our communities, help that can save lives," Jennifer Webb, CEO of Live Tampa Bay, said.
Live Tampa Bay works to reduce opioid overdoses and deaths in our community. Data from the group shows the crisis is disproportionately affecting Black communities.
According to a report from Live Tampa Bay, over a five-year period, Black communities in the Tampa Bay region saw a 361% increase in the number of lives lost to the opioid epidemic.
READ: Tampa pastor using his experiences with drug addiction to help others
"That means that someone we know, someone we're touching one out of three, one out of four has died in Tampa Bay," Rev. J.C. Pritchett II, President of the Interdenominational Ministerial Alliance of Florida, said.
Rev. Pritchett is one of the faith leaders that attended the recent training. He's also part of the Faith Committee with Live Tampa Bay.
"The first thing is that we dealt with the stigma around talking about the pain, to talk about the hurt, to talk about the painkillers, to talk about the prescriptions. And then secondly, not to be judgmental," Pritchett said.
He says those statistics show they have to respond to meet all the needs of their members.
"While we're focused on spiritual care for our members, there's also things that people are dealing with on a daily basis," Pritchett said.
It's one reason Live Tampa Bay says it will work to equip these leaders with the tools they need to help in that mission, including giving them Narcan.
"If people have naloxone, you can revive someone. It's a lifesaving drug. They asked if I would help train them to use naloxone, and then they wanted to put these boxes of naloxone in their churches," Webb said.
The groups will partner to kick off 40 days of prayer on August 31, which is International Overdose Awareness Day.