Arizona sees a consistent spike in drug deaths in the summer. One local organization is working to raise awareness of the dangerous combination of extreme heat and substance use.
The Social Spin Foundation offers laundry and other services for Arizonans experiencing homelessness. Now, the organization is using a $400,000 grant from county opioid settlement funds to host new overdose prevention workshops. Participants learn to recognize signs of an overdose and safely administer the opioid overdose reversal drug, Narcan.
David Dominguez has been homeless for about eight years and has been coming to Social Spin’s Phoenix location lately to stay cool during triple-digit heat. He said he wanted to participate in the workshop because he’s seen overdoses before — he even administered Narcan once.
“I’m lucky I had that at the time, and I got to save him, and to today he thanks me for saving him,” Dominguez said.
This time of year, this knowledge is especially important.
For the past three years, Maricopa County has seen more than twice as many overdose deaths in the month of July than in the month of January. Meanwhile, substance use has factored into nearly 60% of heat-related deaths in the Valley in recent years.
Samantha Calvin, Social Spin’s director of education and social impact, is leading the new overdose workshops. She told participants that signs of heat stroke and overdose may look similar.
“In terms of sweating, cold, pale or clammy skin, tiredness, fatigue, dizziness — all of those can kind of intersect,” Calvin said.
Some types of drugs, especially stimulants, can raise the heart rate or cause sweating or dehydration, which can be life-threatening when paired with Arizona’s extreme heat.
Calvin said the effects of heat may also cause some people to take drugs in higher doses.
“They’re using maybe more in the heat to get that same effect that they don’t feel like they’re getting because the heat’s kind of dulling that effect of the substance,” Calvin said.
She said she hopes workshop attendees take away skills that will save lives.
