John Freyer with the Free Naloxone Bike (Photo by Steven Casanova)
It’s hard to miss John Freyer as he rides through the city on a teal electric-assist bicycle. His destination? Teaching Richmonders how to save lives.
On the front of his bike, inside a wooden crate, are dozens of boxes of Narcan, a brand of naloxone, a lifesaving opioid reversal medication that can be easily administered as a nasal spray.
Freyer, an associate professor of cross-disciplinary media at VCU Arts, gives out the Narcan and demonstrates how to administer it properly on a CPR mannequin that he places on a board attached to the back of his bike.
The idea for the Free Naloxone Bike evolved from the “Free Hot Coffee Bike” Freyer developed in 2016 in collaboration with VCU’s Rams in Recovery, a campus organization that supports students recovering from substance use disorders.
Using a setup transported on a bright red bicycle, Freyer would brew free coffee as a way to interact with students and other adults to educate them about addiction recovery resources. Serving up single pour-over cups of Lamplighter’s Recovery Roast in blue metal cups that can’t be taken away, Freyer explains, “The Free Hot Coffee bike is designed to create time and space for conversations about addiction recovery. … The coffee takes three to five minutes to brew, and people hang out while they drink their coffee.”
In 2018, Rams in Recovery received an Americorps grant to help address the opioid crisis in Richmond. “We found that when we paired the coffee bike with naloxone training, people who stopped for the coffee would stick around to be trained on [how to administer] Narcan,” Freyer says. “[This] gave us the idea of making a custom bike for the [sole] purpose of doing naloxone training.”
An artist and activist who focuses on creating positive change, Freyer estimates that Rams in Recovery has trained and distributed Narcan to more than 1,500 people locally. He says anyone can save a life, and he can help show you how.
“People who interact with the Free Naloxone Bike come from all walks of life and experiences,” he says. “Some people have lost friends and loved ones to overdose, and others just want to be prepared if they ever encounter someone [experiencing an] opioid overdose.” The goal is to get Narcan into the hands of people who may need it or know someone who does, he says.
The need is great, especially now. “The opioid crisis has been exacerbated by the isolation and stresses of the global pandemic, and overdose deaths have skyrocketed,” Freyer says. “Naloxone training and distribution [play] a small but important role in a larger harm-reduction strategy.”
The Free Naloxone Bike was launched in March of 2020, but operations were suspended temporarily due to COVID-19 until contactless training protocols could be developed.
Now, Freyer does demonstrations at a safe physical distance using a lapel microphone so his voice is amplified while he wears a mask. He also offers virtual training.
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Freyer rode the Free Naloxone Bike to the governor’s mansion last month to explain the program to Virginia Gov. Ralph Northam and first lady Pamela Northam. (Photo by Jay Paul)
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Photo by Jay Paul
In January, Freyer rode the Free Naloxone Bike to the governor’s mansion to visit with Virginia Gov. Ralph Northam and first lady Pamela Northam. He told them about his program, trained them and a few staff members, and distributed packages of Narcan.
Julie Karr, opioid coordinator for the Richmond City and Henrico County Health Districts, says that in the first three quarters of 2020 (Jan. 1- Sept. 30), the Office of the Chief Medical Examiner confirmed 160 fatal drug overdoses in the city of Richmond; 154 were opioid overdoses.
In 2019 there were 76 fatal opioid overdoses in the same time period, she says. “This sharp increase in opioid overdoses began in the fourth quarter of 2019, which saw 37 fatal opioid overdoses from Oct. 1 through Dec. 31, 2019,” she says. “At the time, this shattered the record for fatal opioid overdoses in a quarter.”
In addition, Karr says emergency department visits for nonfatal opioid overdoses continue to rise as well, peaking in September 2020 with 70 emergency visits due to opioid overdoses. From Jan. 1 to Nov. 30, 2020, there were 610 opioid overdose emergency department visits; during the same period in 2019, there were 495.
“COVID-19 has almost certainly contributed to the rise in overdose deaths we are seeing,” Karr says, “but this devastating trend began almost 6 months prior to COVID restrictions impacting our region.”
This semester at VCU, Freyer is teaching a class about artists who engage in community projects. He hopes to inspire his students to use their creative talents to better the world through positive action.
Freyer recounts a community engagement that especially moved him: “At my first training event with the Richmond City Medical Reserve at the Richmond Public Library, one of the librarians told me a story about a colleague who was trained the last time we visited and used her Narcan the following day and revived one of the patrons of the library.”
With the proper training, anyone can save a life.
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