The Petersburg Public Health Center has been outfitted with kits to help soften the blow of prescription drug and heroin overdoses long enough to get a person into treatment, said nurse Erin Michael.

The health center is offering free overdose kits to anyone in Petersburg. In the kit is a nasal spray with naloxone, brand-name Narcan, which reverses respiratory depression that occurs while someone is overdosing on opioids.

“This is a good thing for Petersburg,” Michael said. “Ultimately, it can save lives and buy someone time before they can get into treatment.”

The process to get...