Virginia mom says Narcan saved her life: 'It was a really close call'

RICHMOND, Va. -- Robyn Hantelman spent her Monday outside Daily Planet Health Services (DPHS) on W. Grace St. in Richmond asking people if they wanted to learn how to save life a life?

"We're doing naloxone."

Hantelman, a certified peer recovery specialist with the Richmond Ambulance Authority (RAA), and others with the two organizations were teaching people how to administer naloxone (and CPR) -- a nasal spray that can reverse the effects of an opioid overdose. A life-saving technique she had experienced first hand.

"I'm alive today because Narcan," said Hantelman, using the brand name for naloxone.

Hantelman said she developed a 15-year addiction to opioids after being prescribed them for various medical issues through her teens and adulthood. She said she experienced an overdose when visiting her old home.

"My mother gave me rescue breathing until the ambulance arrived and it was it was a really close call," said Hantelman. She added that around eight months after that she decided to enter recovery and is approaching nine years sober in November. "And the wake-up moment was really just one day looking at my son who had just turned two, and saying, 'I don't want to miss any more of his life'."

Hantelman now helps others in similar situations in her role at the RAA.

"I get to be both what I had that inspired me to make the journey into recovery, and I also get to be what I didn't have, which was someone to say, 'Hey, you don't have to do this any longer. There's some other options.'," said Hantelman, who added she used to work as a volunteer EMT in high school. "It's been quite a ride, but it's awesome. It's very, very full circle."

Hantelman's story is one among tens of thousands of Virginians and the Commonwealth has seen improvements in its overdose data over the past few years.

After drug overdose deaths peaked in Virginia over the COVID-19 years (reaching 2,669 deaths in 2021, driven by fentanyl), the numbers have been trending downward since with 2025 seeing 1,400 deaths.

In a report from the Office of the Chief Medical Examiner on the first quarter of 2026, Virginia saw 337 deaths in the first quarter and the report predicts there should be 1,401 deaths in all of 2026.

A similar trend has been seen in the number of Virginians visiting the emergency room for overdoses. The Virginia Department of Health's dashboard shows visits peaked at 65.1 per 10,000 visits in 2021. That number had dropped 41.6 in 2025. The rate sits at 40.2 through the first seven months of 2026.

The RAA has reported a similar decrease in the number of overdose calls it has received. They had 1,991 in 2022 and 1,042 in 2025. They have had 506 through July 2026.

Sarah Tunner, Director of Development at DPHS, said a number of factors have helped bring those numbers down.

"I think it's our partners who are here with us today, Richmond Ambulance Authority, other safety net partners. Education and training of how are we responding to overdoses and what we think is an overdose, what that looks like, that CPR training, the administration of naloxone to save someone's life," said Tunner. "How do you educate people around if you're going to use? How do you prepare yourself and others around you so you're not using alone? Then never use alone line, and the stigma aspect of of using. And you can't be penalized if you're saving somebody's life and you're in the presence of any kind of illicit substances, I think that's really important for people to know that you are saving someone's life."

As the world marks 25 years of awareness, Hantelman said even though the numbers are trending in the right direction, people cannot get complacent.

"Every statistic, every data point is a person with a story with children, and we just got to stay connected to each other. And hopefully, together we can all come together and keep fighting," Hantelman said.

Tunner said Daily Planet has a walk-in clinic on Grace Street and that staff is ready to talk with anyone who is ready to seek treatment for substance use issues.

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