How rural NC lowered overdose deaths — but will struggle to keep pace

ROBESON COUNTY — A grandmother frantically banged on Joni’s apartment door in Robeson County earlier this year with a desperate plea: “Are you the girl with the Narcan?”

Without hesitation, Joni grabbed two boxes of the medication from her kitchen and ran outside, where the woman’s granddaughter was sitting in a car and barely breathing after overdosing on drugs. Joni sprayed Narcan into the young woman’s nasal passages and watched her wake up.

“The grandmother was crying,” recalled Joni, who asked to be identified by her first name only to protect her privacy. “She was very thankful.”

Joni, who is recovering from an addiction to opioids, was accustomed to administering Narcan, the brand name of naloxone that can quickly reverse opioid overdose effects. When she worked at a local hotel