Stony Brook Eastern Long Island Hospital Collaborates with Local Businesses to Launch Narcan Rescue Stations in East End Establishments

GREENPORT, NY, March 1, 2023 -- Stony Brook Eastern Long Island Hospital (SBELIH), Greenport Village Business Improvement District (BID), Greenport Harbor Brewing Co. and Community Action for Social Justice (CASJ) have collaborated to launch Narcan Rescue Stations in various North Fork establishments to prevent potential opioid overdoses. The first two have been installed at Greenport Harbor Brewing Co. in Peconic and Greenport.

The program was conceived after the untimely and tragic deaths of six people who overdosed on cocaine laced with fentanyl on the East End in the summer of 2021.

“It’s painful to remember the summer of 2021,” said Richard Vandenburgh, owner of Greenport Harbor Brewing Co. and President of the BID, wrote in a letter to local business owners. “Over one horrible week, the lives of Nicole Eckardt, Fausto Rafael Herrera Campos, Swainson Brown, Matthew Lapiana, Seth Tramontana, and Navid Ahmadzadeh were cut short. As the head of the Greenport Village Business Improvement District, and a member of this amazing, compassionate community, I am reaching out to ask you to help me prevent more tragedies like the one we faced in 2021.”

Vandenburgh also spoke at recent North Fork Chamber of Commerce and Mattituck Chamber of Commerce meetings, where he emphasized the importance of the Narcan Rescue Stations not only in Greenport but throughout the North Fork, as well.

The Narcan Rescue Stations come with multiple doses of naloxone, the life-saving drug that prevents death from opioid overdose, as well as detailed administering instructions. Additionally, free training will be provided to any business. As the program has been underwritten by SBELIH, the BID, Greenport Harbor Brewing Co. and CASJ, the Narcan Rescue Stations come at no cost to participating establishments.

“The tragedy that occurred in 2021 could have been prevented,” said Paul J. Connor, Chief Administrative Officer at SBELIH. “These Narcan Rescue Stations will honor the legacies of those we’ve lost by ensuring nobody else meets the same tragic fate.”

Several Greenport businesses, including Claudio’s, Ellen’s On Front, GDC Roller Skate Rink, and Front Street Station have already committed to installing Narcan Rescue Stations. Businesses can sign up for Narcan Rescue Stations here.

About Stony Brook Eastern Long Island Hospital
As part of Stony Brook Medicine, Stony Brook Eastern Long Island Hospital (SBELIH) combines the best in academic and community medicine, improving access to advanced medical care for residents of the North Fork and Shelter Island. With 70 beds, SBELIH is Suffolk County’s first hospital, serving the North Fork since 1905. SBELIH provides care to 25,000 year-round residents and expanding to 60,000 summer residents with comprehensive healthcare solutions, including behavioral health, medical-surgical, orthopaedics and general surgery, wound care, interventional pain management and GI, advanced ambulatory care, diagnostic, and physical therapy services. The hospital is also a clinical campus and training site for Stony Brook Medicine, with its first SBELIH Psychiatry resident having graduated in 2022.