Crime & Safety
Last Outdoor Suffolk Police Narcan Training In Port Jefferson On Sunday
Officers will be on hand to demonstrate the use of the opiate antidote, and purple remembrance rocks will be available for visitors.
PORT JEFFERSON, NY — Suffolk police's last outdoor Narcan training opportunity of the season is Sunday at the Port Jefferson Farmers Market.
As part of the new initiative, which is in memory of people who have lost their lives to opioid overdoses, residents can also decorate purple drug addiction awareness rocks.
The market will be open 9 a.m. to 2 p.m.
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Almost 60 people were trained in the use of Narcan at an Oct. 29 Stony Brook event remembering Alex Sutton, the son of organizer, Carole Trottere.
The event was held at Pizza Station, Sutton's favorite place to grab a slice.
Find out what's happening in Port Jeffersonfor free with the latest updates from Patch.
In April 2018, Sutton died of a heroin and fentanyl overdose as one of close to 600 people on Long Island who died in the same manner.
Station Pizza co-owners Kenneth Asher and Thomas Catanese offered free pizza and
drinks to everyone who received the training, which was conducted by Suffolk
police Emergency Medical Service Officer Jason Byron, who works closely
with the department's Behavioral Health Unit.
Trottere also had memorial rocks available for people to decorate with the name of
anyone lost to the opioid/fentanyl epidemic as part of the Purple Rock Project.
Once completed, the finished rocks are placed around parks and other locations, including Gabriel's Giving Tree Memorial and Recovery Garden at Suffolk's Environmental Center at the Scully Estate in Islip, as a reminder of how many Long Islanders have died from overdose and fentanyl poisonings.
Trottere noted every death from overdose affects so many people, including parents, grandparents, siblings, friends, and colleagues.
"It’s like a spider web of grief for those left behind,” she said. “Fentanyl is the
deadliest drug to ever hit the streets and is responsible for nearly 70 percent of nationwide drug deaths."
She said she is grateful to Station Pizza and the Suffolk police for allowing her to
honor her son's birthday "in a positive way.”
For more information about the initiative, call 631-275-5277.
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