Over the past three years, opioid overdoses have skyrocketed to an unheard number in Beaver County. This has led to a heartbreaking amount of deaths. According to WPXI, there were 30 confirmed deaths in 2014, 37 in 2015 and 27 from January through August of 2016 along with 15 suspected. The extremely concerning factor about this scenario is that kids in high school are dying from these deadly overdoses.

In early 2016, the Pennsylvania Department of Health, Education and Drug and Alcohol issued a joint letter to schools that recommended having the drug Narcan available in school. Naloxone Hydrochloride, or Narcan, is used whenever someone has an opioid overdose. This drug is in the form of a nasal spray, which works quickly and effectively, potentially saving the life of a person in need.

On Oct. 11, FASD approved the Narcan policy in the school. Mrs. Bonnie Adams, one of the district nurses, worked with superintendent Dr. Jeffrey Fuller, the school board and the school solicitor to adapt the standardized policy to be appropriate for our district. According to the policy, the purpose of Narcan at FASD is to “develop and implement safe and responsible procedures and protocols for administering Naloxone to individuals who are believed to be experiencing an opioid overdose.” As of now, Officer Tom Liberty is in possession of the drug. At Freedom, we have never had an opioid overdose take place.

“We have been very fortunate to not have any issues at school. I feel that we’ve provided the education so that students know heroin is harmful,” Liberty said.

“We’ve never had an overdose here in the district, since I’ve been employed,” Adams stated.

“Before we carried this, we would’ve had to wait for an ambulance, which could be a five to ten-minute response time. Those five to 10 minutes make a difference between a successful outcome and a fatal outcome,” Liberty says, regarding how he thinks Narcan will help our school.

In addition to using this nasal spray, the policy says that emergency assistance will also be contacted for further medical care.

Adams also shared her thoughts on how she thinks Narcan will help our school. “Hopefully, we will never have to use it. If, for some reason there is a heroin addict that overdoses in the school or on campus, we would have this available and wouldn’t be waiting for an ambulance. We could save their life.”

Overall, even though there has never been an opioid overdose at FASD, there is now the ability to save someone’s life if we ever do come across the unfortunate event of an opioid overdose. As Adams has said, “Any number of losses is too many,” and FASD is doing their best to keep that number at zero.