The number of people dying from heroin overdoses has steadily increased in Forsyth County and across the United States in the last five years, according to the most recent statistics. In Forsyth County, 21 people died of a heroin overdose in 2014, up from just seven in 2011.

But Winston-Salem police have a new tool in keeping people alive — Narcan, or naxoline, which is used to treat drug overdoes.

As a result, seven people are alive, said Lt. William Penn of the Winston-Salem Police Department at a Wednesday news conference.

Penn said that since September, four of every six police officers in patrol units carry Narcan to use on people suffering from opiate overdoses, including heroin.

Between 1999 and 2010, Forsyth County either had no heroin overdose fatalities or just a handful. Then in 2011, fatalities started to increase. That year, seven people died. The next year, it was eight. According to statistics from the N.C. Department of Health and Human Services, Forsyth County hit its peak in 2014, with 21 deaths. No statistics were available for 2015.

North Carolina had 253 people die of heroin overdose in 2014, up from 183 in 2013. In 1999, North Carolina had 41 heroin deaths.