In recovery, helping others is key as Save a Life Day, held Sept. 25, approaches

Sep. 18, 2025

In recovery, helping others is key as Save a Life Day, held Sept. 25, approaches

MORGANTOWN — Two different people, two relatable stories.
Teisha Prim played sports, got good grades and attended WVU, but when she went through a sad time in college, she wanted to numb her feelings.
“Other friends had begun experimenting with opioids,” she said. “I had been prescribed them my whole life, for dental surgery, kidney surgery, but it never became a problem until that moment.”
At the age of 21, she became dependent on opioids. “That’s when my life went downhill. I started not going to class.” Her first arrest was for a DUI.
Travis Teets dabbled with opioids in high school, but he only began seeking them out after he was prescribed painkillers after getting his wisdom teeth out.
“Like most people, I never intended on being addicted to anything,” Teets said.
He really liked the opioids he had been prescribed and started using them daily. A friend gave him Percosets. “I thought, ‘I don’t know what this is, but I want to feel like this the rest of my life,’” he said. “That was a good sign I was headed down the dark road.”
Both Teets and Prim traveled frightening paths of addiction, incarceration and struggles to overcome substance use disorder before they were able to quit using and find a new, healthier way to live.
These days, Teets said, he would prefer to be known as “a person in recovery that wants to help other people find their way.”
Teets and Prim now work as Peer Recovery Support Specialists for West Virginia Sober Living in Morgantown, and Prim supervises the support specialists.
They also take part in the Monongalia County Quick Response Team (QRT), a multi-agency group funded by grants obtained by Monongalia County Health Department that work to reduce opioid use in the community.
After more than six years of QRT members engaging with individuals who overdose with a goal of connecting them to services, naloxone and, if possible, rehabilitation, the results are obvious, Teets noted.
“We’ve lowered the overdose rate in this state, mainly because of naloxone saturation,” Teet said. “It’s available and it’s out there in the communities. Therefore, loss of life is lower. A lot of West Virginians have the ability to enter recovery because they are alive to try it.”
Monongalia County residents will have another chance to stock up on naloxone, which reverses the effects of an opioid overdose, during the QRT’s next Save a Life: Free Naloxone Day event, which will be held from 10 a.m. to 6 p.m. Thursday, Sept. 25 at 10 locations. They are the WVU Health Sciences Center, the WVU Rec Center, the WVU Mountainlair, the courthouse plaza, Sabraton and Suncrest McDonald’s, Terra Cafe, Pop the Soda Shop, Clinton District Library and Pierpont Landing Pharmacy.
QRT members and volunteers will be on hand to distribute the fentanyl test strips and the Narcan brand of naloxone, and also train individuals how to administer this nasal-spray type of naloxone.
Save a Life Day began in West Virginia in 2021 and has quickly grown to other regions, according to information released by Soar WV, a Charleston-based community group that “promotes the health, dignity and voices of individuals who are impacted by drug use.”
This year, the observance will be held in all 50 states, with more than 100,000 doses expected to be handed out. Brittany Irick, the Monongalia County QRT coordinator, said the state has provided 1,704 two-dose kits to be distributed throughout the community.
“We’re happy that this has grown to be a nationwide event and every state will have at least one Save a Life Day location,” Irick said.
It’s an important day for Prim, who spent seven years on probation before finding Narcotics Anonymous, which she says helps her to this day.
“It’s really cool to see community members who don’t have anyone who is in active addiction who wants to carry naloxone,” Prim said. “It’s not just about people who are experiencing substance use disorder. Someone’s grandparents can overdose while taking their prescription medication. A kid can find something on the street.”
She also has the opportunity to teach people who have a bias, she added.
“I tell them about the importance of giving out naloxone. There will always be that stigma surrounding naloxone, and it gives us the chance to educate people on the benefits of naloxone and carrying naloxone no matter who you are.”
As for Teets, who eventually found long-term recovery through Jacab’s Ladder in Preston County, he noted: “Everyone deserves a second, third chance. No one needs to die from this disease. I'm living proof that a person can change.”

For up-to-date information on health and wellness in Monongalia County, check out monchd.org and follow the health department on Facebook and Twitter @WVMCHD and on Instagram at #wvmchd.