DAP Health promotes harm prevention during Coachella Weekends

As festival season kicks off, DAP Health is taking proactive steps to promote harm reduction by distributing life-saving tools like narcan and fentanyl test strips.

Each day, DAP will be stationed at the Palm Springs Convention Center, where they will be handing out free tools. It expects to hand out over 1,100 doses of narcan and 2,400 fentanyl test strips.

"Best case scenario you’re gonna check the drugs first," says Neil Gussardo, the Community Health Harm Reduction Supervisor from DAP Health. "You can save a life by using Narcan."

Drug overdoses remain the leading cause of death for Americans aged 18 to 44, according to the CDC. This year alone, DAP Health has already reported 728 overdose reversals thanks to narcan they've provided.

According to Gussardo, here is the proper way to use narcan. “First yell hey wake up. Next, you’re going to want to cause pain, do a hard sternum rub. If they’re still non-responsive, you open Narcan, it's easy to apply. Once you’ve done one shot, you really wanna call 911.”