Jun. 26—If you knew there was a good chance you could save the life of an unresponsive person with the push of a button, would you try?

What if the person was a stranger, or homeless or a drug addict?

The answer to these questions appeared to be a resounding yes for about 20 downtown Bakersfield business owners who attended a training session Friday on the proper use of Narcan nasal spray to potentially save the lives of individuals who have overdosed on fentanyl or other opioids.

"We need to get the community to become more aware — and this is how we start," Dr. Jasmeet Bains, medical director at Bakersfield Recovery Services, said before the training session held at The Westchester Event Center.

Many people don't want to talk about the growing problem, Bains said. But we have to start.

"It's a spray up the nose and it saves lives. It's a miracle," she said of the single-dose dispensers of Narcan — generic name, Naloxone — handed out to participants Friday.

The dispensers come two to a box, and instructions are pretty simple.

First, you have to be able to recognize the symptoms of opioid overdose: Look for slow, shallow, irregular breathing, or none at all. Snoring, gurgling, blue or ashen-gray lips, pale, cold, clammy or sweaty skin.

"Use verbal or physical stimulation to try to rouse the individual: Speak firmly, call their name, if possible. or rub their sternum."

If they don't awaken, call 911, or better yet, have someone else call.

Administer the Narcan or Naloxone by placing the nozzle all the way into the nostril, said Gilbert LaRoque, supervising counselor at Bakersfield Recovery Services.

Then, depress the plunger all the way with your thumb.

"One big press," he said. "It only works one time."

Administer the second dose three minutes later if the initial dose yields no response.

"It takes the opioid from the person's brain and replaces it with this medicine," said Andrew Laird of Bakersfield Recovery Services.

In many cases, the patient's response is immediate, but they may experience confusion or display combativeness after they come to. So step back.

Hosted by the Downtown Business Association and the Downtown Bakersfield Development Corp.'s Block to Block program, in conjunction with Bakersfield City Councilman Andrae Gonzales, the training was open to employees and owners of bars, restaurants, tattoo shops and other interested businesses.

"The problem with fentanyl is it's very addictive and very potent — more addictive and potent than most," said Ann Sherwood of Kern Behavioral Health & Recovery Services.

"We are in crisis mode," she said of the epidemic of opioid abuse and overdose.

Fatal overdoses from opiates rose 90 percent between 2019 and 2020, Sherwood said. And that rate of growth appears to be holding. A significant portion of that growth is from fentanyl and related drugs, she said, and many doses are now marketed illegally in counterfeit pill form made to look like a physician-prescribed medicine.

Bob Bell, the owner of The Westchester and other properties downtown, was one of the business owners who took part in the training.

"Like it or not, they are our responsibility now," Bell said of the homeless and street people who have caused so many problems in recent years.

"We're done with asking for help all the time," he said.

Even his church is providing Narcan training to its security and other staff.

"Someone has to do this," he said.

"If not us, who? If not now, when?"

Reporter Steven Mayer can be reached at 661-395-7353. Follow him on Facebook and on Twitter: @semayerTBC.