Pubdate: Tue, 04 Jul 2017
Source: Newsday (NY)
Copyright: 2017 Newsday Inc.
Contact:  http://www.newsday.com/
Details: http://www.mapinc.org/media/308
Author: Joie Tyrrell

SCHOOLS, ON GUARD AGAINST DEADLY OPIOIDS, STOCK NALOXONE

School districts on Long Island and statewide are stocking naloxone
onsite in school buildings to have the opioid antidote at the ready
because of the growing issue of abuse of the deadly drugs, educators
and health officials said.

At least 340 schools across the state, including dozens on Long
Island, have provided training for school nurses or other personnel
about how to administer naloxone, according to the state Education
Department.

The Long Island Council on Alcoholism and Drug Dependence, based in
Westbury, also has seen interest grow in instructing school personnel
about the antidote, said Reisa Berg, director of education and prevention.

"Initially, I think some people were saying, 'Why are we talking about
this at a middle or high school level when we are not seeing a lot of
overdosing?' " she said. "But now when I go [to trainings], I say,
'Raise your hand if you know someone who is struggling with opiates?'
and almost all the hands in the room go up."

Berg's assessment is stark: "Unfortunately, this is a Long Island
issue."

Almost 500 people died from opioid overdoses on Long Island in 2016,
the most ever, records provided this spring by the medical examiner's
offices in Nassau and Suffolk counties showed. Opioid overdose now is
the leading cause of accidental death in New York City, surpassing
even motor vehicle accidents, according to New York City's Health 
Department.

Nationally, drug overdose is the leading cause of accidental death,
with 52,404 lethal drug overdoses in 2015, according to the
Maryland-based American Society of Addiction Medicine. Opioid
addiction is driving the epidemic, with 20,101 overdose deaths related
to prescription pain relievers and 12,990 overdose deaths related to
heroin that year, the society said.

Naloxone, commonly known by the brand name Narcan, is the widely
available treatment for opioid overdoses, including heroin, the
synthetic drug fentanyl and the painkiller oxycodone. Delivered by
injection or nasal spray, it blocks access to opioid receptors that
may be activated by the drugs. While it can cause withdrawal symptoms
in opiate users, there are few reported side effects for those who do
not use the drugs.

State Education Department regulations about opioid overdose
prevention in schools went into effect in August 2015. The state
Health Department works closely with the Education Department, as well
as the state Office of Alcoholism and Substance Abuse Services.

The state also asks schools to report if naloxone has had to be
administered for an opioid overdose. Jill Montag, a state Health
Department spokeswoman, said two administrations of naloxone in a
school setting have occurred statewide -- including one for a
14-year-old at a school in Suffolk County in November 2015. In both
cases, the outcome was successful, said Montag, who declined to name
the Suffolk district because of privacy issues.

School systems have more than one way to arrange for training programs
that include how to administer naloxone: They register through the
state Health Department or work with other agencies, such as the Long
Island Council on Alcoholism and Drug Dependence, or LICADD.

The agency, which has been training nonmedical personnel on how to use
naloxone for years, has instructed more than 2,000 people, Berg said,
including 14 school districts and six local colleges, such as Adelphi
University and Suffolk County Community College. Some of the school
systems where naloxone training recently was conducted are Connetquot,
Garden City, Islip, Syosset and Smithtown, as well as Kellenberg
Memorial High School in Uniondale, which has grades six through 12.

Both the kits and the training, which takes about an hour, are
provided free to schools. Typically, the council distributes five kits
per school building.

Administrators in Levittown schools were among those who recognized
the issue early, implementing an opioid overdose prevention program in
2015 that includes training on naloxone administration both for school
nurses and social workers. Now, naloxone kits are stocked in every
building, including the six elementary schools.

"The district has always taken a preventative approach to alcoholism
and substance abuse," said Donald Sturz, Levittown's assistant to the
superintendent for pupil services, who noted that the district took
action after seeing reports of the growing opioid epidemic. "We as a
district try to be ahead of the wave, and we jumped right on it and
developed a district policy."

The district has not had to use the kits, Sturz said.

Today, there are more than 400 opioid overdose prevention programs
registered with the state Health Department across New York State --
including in 73 school districts -- in which people without medical
backgrounds are trained in opioid overdose recognition and response.
Those responses include calling 911 and administering naloxone, which
is furnished through the programs.

The state Health Department does not select schools to have opioid
overdose programs. Districts make that choice through their
superintendents or boards. School systems also have the choice of
registering with the Health Department or working with another entity,
such as a county health department.

The first program registered with the state Health Department was the
Ellicottville Central School District in Cattaraugus County, south of
Buffalo, in 2015.

* Naloxone, which goes by the brand name Narcan, blocks virtually all
the effects of opioids such as heroin, the synthetic drug fentanyl and
the painkiller oxycodone.

* It is not a new drug. For several decades, emergency room doctors
have used it to treat people who have overdosed.

* The antidote, which is injected or administered as a nasal spray,
knocks out opiate molecules from the brainstem's nerve receptors.

* When given to a person experiencing a heroin overdose, for example,
someone who may be close to dying begins to wake up in a matter of
minutes. They still need emergency medical care, because naloxone may
wear off before the drug does. Also, it may cause withdrawal symptoms
in addicts.

* Naloxone works only in people who have recently taken such opioids.
It is not effective against other types of drugs, such as alcohol,
antihistamines, or stimulants such as cocaine and amphetamines.

Across New York, 73 school districts have registered with the state
Health Department as having opioid overdose prevention programs.

Those include nine districts on Long Island -- East Meadow, East
Rockaway, Hauppauge, Herricks, Jericho, Malverne, Mineola, North Shore
and Rockville Centre. The Knox School in St. James also has a
registered program.

School districts on the Island that have worked with other registered
programs to have on-site opioid overdose prevention and trained
personnel include Babylon, Bay Shore, Bellmore-Merrick, Bellport,
Brentwood, Center Moriches, Commack, Connetquot, East Hampton, Floral
Park, Franklin Square, Freeport, Hampton Bays, Hauppauge, Hicksville,
Islip, Kings Park, Levittown, Lindenhurst, Long Beach,
Mattituck-Cutchogue, Miller Place, North Babylon, Northport-East
Northport, Port Washington, Rocky Point, Sayville, Seaford,
Southampton, South Huntington, Suffolk BOCES, Wantagh, Western Suffolk
BOCES and Westhampton Beach.

The Health Department is aware of those districts because other
registered programs indicate the schools with which they have worked
as part of required quarterly reporting.
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MAP posted-by: Matt