She lost her brother to opioids. Now she’s training others to help those who overdose.
By Elizabeth Holmes
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CHESTERFIELD COUNTY, Virginia (WTVR) — Jennifer Jurlando lost her brother to an opioid overdose 10 years ago.
All she has left of him are memories, pictures, and the question, “what if?”
Her sibling struggled with addiction as a teen but got help into adulthood.
Later, when he was diagnosed with cancer, Jurlando said he was treated with a prescription opioid.
Once again, addiction took over.
“When he overdosed, he was in a hotel room,” Jurlando explained. “There was somebody with him who left. And I always wonder if somebody, if that person had stayed, whether he would be here now?”
Jurlando now works as a Medical Reserve Corps volunteer with Chesterfield County. There she teaches people how to reverse an opioid overdose through REVIVE! training.
“It’s just so easy, I just wish everybody did it,” Jurlando said.
It’s training she said she’s undertaking in her brother’s legacy, making sure people know how to spot an overdose and use Narcan nasal spray on someone who needs it.
The push to get more people trained is also coming via Virginia First Lady Suzanne Youngkin’s initiative “It Only Takes One.”
The initiative, which correlates with Governor Youngkin’s “Right Here Right Now” initiative, highlights the dangers of overdoses, particularly those involving the synthetic drug fentanyl, and law enforcement’s efforts to find it.
This Fentanyl Awareness Day, the Youngkin administration held an event for sports coaches across Central Virginia to learn more about the fentanyl-related overdoses and law enforcement’s efforts to find the drug.
“In one month, Virginia State Police seized 51 pounds of fentanyl,” Governor Youngkin said. “Let me tell you. That’s 51 pounds of fentanyl. That’s enough fentanyl to kill every single Virginia, 8.7 million people, three times over. And that was seized in just one month.”
The drug is a top contributor to Virginia’s opioid epidemic, reported to have caused almost 2,000 Virginians to die in 2022.
According to the Virginia Department of Health, Chesterfield County and Colonial Heights had higher rates of drug overdose deaths, drug overdose emergency department visits, and drug overdose hospitalizations compared to the state average.
Everyone who attends Revive! training, whether it be through their local health department or other hosting entity, will get free Narcan to keep.
Chesterfield County libraries also have free Narcan.
Jurlando said she just wanted people to understand the importance of training and keeping Narcan on hand, while also remembering those who’ve lost loved ones to overdose.
“My brother should be here getting ready for his first grandchild, but he’s not,” Jurlando said. “And this training, you know, somebody being on-site with Naloxone (Narcan) could’ve completely changed the trajectory of his life. It could’ve given him the opportunity to live.”
You can learn more about REVIVE! trainings offered through the Virginia Department of Health in Chesterfield.
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