BUTLER TWP — Alice Bell has heard a lot of stories about drug overdoses during her time with Prevention Point Pittsburgh, a nonprofit organization aimed to help injection drug users.

Perhaps the most troubling are those about believed cures for heroin and other opioid overdoses.

Ranging from baths of ice, to the consumption of milk or salt water, to the use of cocaine, Bell said there are a variety of myths out there on how to save someone suffering from an overdose.

“None of those will help someone who is not breathing,” she told a crowd of about 90 people at Butler County Community College on Wednesday night.

But there is an effective way to reverse heroin or other opioid drug overdoses that is becoming increasingly accessible to the public — naloxone.

Bell, who is an overdose prevention project coordinator, presented a training seminar on the drug hosted by the Hope for Broken Hearts group of Butler, which also organizes an annual Walk for Hope drug awareness event in Butler.

When administered during an overdose, naloxone, commonly known by its brand name Narcan, blocks the effects of opioids on the brain and typically restores breathing within three to five minutes.

The most commonly abused opioids include prescription pain medication and heroin.

“Overdoses are the number one cause of injury-related deaths in the United States,” Bell said. “More than car accidents.”

And about 75 percent of all overdose deaths include opioids, Bell said.

The training was intended to provide ways to reduce the risk of an overdose and identify symptoms, and offer tips on what to do if you are present when someone overdoses.

It taught participants how to administer naloxone to a person suffering from an opioid overdose. Each participant was given a dose of naloxone to take home.

“Most overdose deaths are witnessed,” Bell said. “That’s why we’re here doing this training. We have the antidote. We know how to keep an opioid overdose from becoming fatal.”

The drug is most commonly given in the form of a nasal spray or as an injection into a muscle.

There are no side effects if it is wrongfully given to someone who is not overdosing on an opioid.

Persons suffering from an overdose will experience withdrawal while the drug is working, which usually lasts for about 90 minutes.

“The only bad thing to come from the drug is it puts them in a temporary withdrawal,” Bell said. “But it saves a life.”

Former Gov. Tom Corbett last year signed into law Act 139, which allows emergency first responders, including firefighters, police and EMTs, to administer naloxone to people experiencing an opioid overdose.

The drug was previously limited to trained paramedics outside of hospitals, where it has successfully been used for decades.

The law also allows friends or family members of at-risk individuals to get a prescription for naloxone as well as provides protection from prosecution for those reporting an overdose.

Many drug stores in the state, including some in Butler County, have started carrying the drug.

While the drug is relatively easy to administer, Bell said it was important for people to understand the signs of an overdose, which include pale skin, blue lips and fingertips, rolled-back eyes and slow or erratic breathing.

She said often people suffering from an overdose may mistakenly thought to simply be asleep or passed out.

It’s also important to know what else needs to be done to help save a life other than giving naloxone.

“Rescue breathing is vital,” Bell said. “When you overdose on opioids, a person’s breathing stops first.”

Bell said a person should breathe for an overdose victim until the drug kicks in or paramedics arrive at the scene.

“You want to give them two breaths at a time, making sure their chest is filling with air,” she said.

She stressed that people should not be afraid to call 911 to report an overdose.

“Often people are afraid to call 911 because they don’t want the police to get involved,” she said. “Or they don’t want the neighbors to find out.”

But Bell said there are protections in the law for people reporting overdoses, and that the most important thing is to save a life.

And she said naloxone is a proven life saver.

Bell said San Francisco has been distributing naloxone since 2003 to great success.

“The number of opioid deaths dropped to less than a dozen per year in a city with over 830,000 people,” she said. “They virtually eliminated heroin overdoses by blanketing the community with naloxone.”

In 2014, the Butler County Coroner’s Office reported that 33 people died of drug overdoses.