After being established for nearly a year, the Monroe County Coalition for Drug-Free Communities took time during the October meeting to revisit common goals and missions.

They addressed potential police use of Narcan, along with hearing from the health department on drug testing and preparing for next month’s meeting.

Narcan is a substance that reverses the effects of certain drugs, including heroin, in an overdose situation.

It has been in the news nationwide lately as more police forces and EMS personnel adopt the practice of carrying it for emergency overdose situations.

“A protocol for police departments in Illinois is being looked at,” Wagner said. “The health department would be willing to keep and supply Narcan to agencies like the police departments in Monroe County. It’s not very expensive and has a fairly long shelf life.”

Several Illinois police departments and their officers carry Narcan, but the majority of them are in northern Illinois in the Chicago suburbs.

John Wagner of the Monroe County Health Department came to the meeting and informed coalition members of the free drug testing the health department has been offering since last year.

He said the tests are 99.9 percent accurate and are completely anonymous.

The health department,

located at 901 Illinois Avenue in Waterloo, is open weekdays from 8 a.m. to 5:30 p.m.

In a two-hour meeting on Nov. 3, regional superintendent Kelton Davis and other coalition officials will go over local results of this year’s Illinois Youth Survey.

“It’s very rich data for us to look at,” Bill Rebholz, one of the coalition’s founders, said.

The data will help the coalition focus its goals and come up with a problem analysis based on local statistics.

The meeting will take place from 4 to 6 p.m. Nov. 3 in the community room of the YMCA.