money Visalia Unified schools now stocked with Narcan amid nationwide opioid epidemic
Visalia Unified school health employees and administrators now have access to Narcan, a lifesaving medication used to reverse the effects of an opioid overdose.
The school district's announcement comes days after a California assembly member proposed a bill that would require schools to have Narcan readily available on campuses, and right before the White House launched a dashboard tracking nonfatal opioid overdoses across the country.
“Visalia Unified has taken proactive steps to be prepared in the instance of a fentanyl overdose by acquiring Narcan for every school,” Visalia Unified spokesperson Andre Pecina said. “Nurses are ready to act if the need ever arises.”
After receiving the medication sometime over Thanksgiving break, school nurses and health employees received Narcan training on Monday; administrators are next in line.
The medication will be kept in a secure but readily available location, near the school’s medical equipment and nurse’s offices. Custodians are already in the process of installing the units. Each site will have two doses of Narcan on top of the medication that each youth service officer and emergency medical services carry.
The district ordered the medication through the Naloxone Distribution Project – a California Department of Health Care Services program aimed at combating opioid overdose-related deaths throughout the state.
Nationwide Epidemic
Just this week, the White House launched a national data dashboard aimed at fighting the opioid epidemic.
The database tracks the rate of nonfatal opioid overdoses across the country and is meant to offer a more accurate picture, providing the opportunity for early intervention.
“We are hoping that this will be used by first responders, by clinicians as well as policymakers to make sure that we are working to provide that response, connect people to care as well as to minimize the response times and ensure that there's resources available on the ground,” said Dr. Rahul Gupta, director of White House Office of National Drug Control Policy.
California Assemblyman Joe Patterson (R-Rocklin) introduced a bill Monday that would require each public school operated by a school district, county office of education, or charter school to have at least two doses of naloxone hydrochloride on hand.
Naloxone — also known by its brand name Narcan — was used at least 155,420 times in 2020 by healthcare providers, according to Ann Carlson, acting administrator of the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration.
About 81,000 Americans have died in the past year because of the powerful substance, according to officials.
USA Today contributed to this report.
This article originally appeared on Visalia Times-Delta: Visalia Unified schools stocked with Narcan amid opioid epidemic
