Lessons In Lifesaving: Tuckahoe Residents Learn To Administer Overdose Stopping Naloxone

TUCKAHOE, N.Y. (CBSNewYork) -- It might be the most important class that some people ever take, though most will tell you they wish they didn't have to be there.

"I couldn't live with myself if I didn't come," one student told CBS2's Jessica Layton.

The mother from Scarsdale didn't want to be identified because she isn't sure if her husband's colleagues know that their 28-year-old son is battling an addiction. He's already been saved by Naloxone once before.

"A friend found him in the driveway," she said.

Tuesday night in Tuckahoe, parents received a hands on lesson in how to use Naloxone -- in case they ever find someone on the verge of dying from a powerful drug like heroin.

"What you're doing is restoring breathing, because that's taking the opiates out of the system," education coordinator Lillian Neuman explained.

Everyone who attends the training at the Maxwell Institute walks away with a Naloxone kit to keep at home for free.

"People are dying," Neuman said.

In 2015, Westchester County saw 22 deaths from heroin overdoses. Between January and March of 2016, there were five.

"There's a lot of denial that it exists. It takes a long time to get people educated on this," program director, Karen Goldman-Hertz said.

There was no denial on Tuesday night, only a determination to get the medication into the hands of the right people.

"I'm grateful it's out there," a mother said.

A life saving lesson that mother hopes she never has to put to use. The Maxwell Institute said all of the Naloxone kits were provided by the sate for free.