CHICAGO (WBBM NEWSRADIO) - A nonprofit is taking advantage of Lollapalooza's large crowds to educate festival goers about overdose prevention.
Ingela Travers-Hayward and William Perry brought 5,000 naloxone kits to hand out at Lolla this year.
They're founders of the nonprofit This Must Be the Place, which Perry said aims to get the overdose-reversing medication, otherwise by its brand name Narcan, into the hands of those who are most affected by the opioid epidemic.
"We basically said, ‘hey let's not sit in an office and expect them to come to us. Let's go to them and make it available, make it free, make it easy to get with a quick training,’" said Perry.
He said even if the kits aren't used at Lolla, they could help someone somewhere else.
"All of these kits are most likely going to make it out and…not be used here and they’re going to make it back into a community, into a household, into a frat house, a sorority…They're gonna make it somewhere that's not gonna be kept safe," Perry added.
Festival goer Angel Saldi said she agrees.
"No matter how much prevention there is, it’s going to happen regardless, so [you] might as well have some prevention, at least it will make the entire community feel safer,” Saldi said.
Chelsea Ha is a frequent festival goer and says she's pleasantly surprised to see Narcan being handed out at Lolla.
“For me, we’re associated with EDM festivals. But, it’s cool to see at festivals of different genres. I think we should be seeing more of that,” Ha said.
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