Homeless shelter residents have been blocked from using a life-saving drug to revive fellow residents who overdose, advocates charge.
Stevie Weltsek, 51, who has been trained to use a naloxone kit to reverse overdoses, said he ran to grab his kit after he saw a man who overdosed slumping off the toilet at his East New York, Brooklyn, shelter earlier this year. A security guard blocked him from getting near the man, and the man died.
“I yelled for help — which turned out to be my biggest mistake,” said Weltsek, a member of Vocal-NY. “I felt useless…This kid died because of time.”
The city has heavily promoted the use of naloxone to tackle the opioid epidemic. Mayor de Blasio announced plans this year to give out 65,500 kits — including 6,500 at homeless shelters.
Vocal is pushing a City Council bill that would require shelter staff to be trained to administer naloxone.
Miguel Perez, 39, said he was also barred a few weeks ago from using the drug to aid a man who overdosed at the shelter he lives at in Jamaica, Queens. He showed papers documenting he was trained to use the kit, but was blocked from the room.
“They said no way, I’m not going to touch the guy,” he said. “I’ve seen people really, really bad, purple, having a lot of trouble breathing…Nobody lets anybody touch the person.”
In that case the man was treated at a hospital and survived.
Department of Social Services Commissioner Steve Banks told the Council the agency has already launched a program to train shelter staff to use drugs to combat overdoses.
The Department of Homeless Services later said all shelter providers have now been trained, and the department administered the drug 112 times last year, successfully reversing 94 overdoses. When they have received reports of shelter staff stopping residents from using it, they have ordered them to allow it.
“Every Department of Homeless Services shelter now has staff trained to administer life-saving Narcan to prevent overdoses-and we encourage shelters to train clients to administer Narcan,” said spokesman Isaac McGinn, referring to the brand name for naloxone.
