Pubdate: Thu, 06 Oct 2016
Source: Province, The (CN BC)
Copyright: 2016 Postmedia Network Inc.
Contact:  http://www.theprovince.com/
Details: http://www.mapinc.org/media/476
Author: Glen Schaefer
Page: 6

PUT OVERDOSE KITS IN SCHOOLS: TRUSTEE

MAPLE RIDGE: Trustee wants naloxone to be available provincewide in
fentanyl fight

A Maple Ridge school trustee is proposing that anti-overdose kits be
made available at all B.C. secondary schools as part of the battle
against the often-lethal use of the drug fentanyl.

Susan Carr, vice-chairwoman of the Maple Ridge board, said her
awareness of the drug's dangers go back three years, when she had a
family member become addicted to the drug - the individual is in
recovery now.

"It was a world I never even imagined," Carr said Wednesday as she
prepared to host a school forum that night on the drug's dangers. "You
find yourself overwhelmed with the situation, and terrified that while
you're trying to find help, your family member is going to die right
in front of you."

Carr is preparing a motion to bring to her board's Oct. 19 meeting,
that the provincial ministries of health and education prepare a
protocol on fentanyl preparedness that would include kits with the
anti-overdose drug naloxone at all B.C. high schools.

"I've lived it, I get it, that's why I'm passionate about getting the
message out there," Carr said before heading to the evening forum at
Westview Secondary School.

Police and health authorities were scheduled to give presentations on
the narcotic drug, which has come into widespread use with traces
found in marijuana and cocaine.

A rash of fentanyl-related overdoses that put nine people in hospital
over one night in Delta prompted school and police authorities in
September to host two such forums at schools in that community. Those
incidents were believed to involve fentanyl-laced cocaine.

Carr's proposal is the latest volley in what is becoming a
provincewide fight to curb the drug's spread. The B.C. Coroners
Service reports that fentanyl was involved in 60.1 per cent of illicit
drug deaths so far this year, as compared with 30.1 per cent of drug
fatalities last year. In addition, the number of illicit drug deaths
provincewide rose to 488 deaths to the end of August this year, as
compared with 302 in the same period last year. Carr said fentanyl,
which can kill with small doses, dwarfs past drug-use issues in
schools and communities.

"It's just blown up - fentanyl is being sprayed in pot, it's in
cocaine," Carr said, adding that school first-aid staff should be
trained and equipped to deal with the drug's effects. "We train for
earthquake preparedness, in the event we might have an earthquake. We
hope there never is, but we have that."

Carr herself took a one-day course through Fraser Health in August on
using naloxone to reverse the effects of a fentanyl overdose.

"It's not rocket science," she said, likening the kits to the EpiPens
used for anaphylactic allergic reactions.

She said the health and education ministries earlier collaborated on a
provincewide diabetes protocol, in the event of emergencies involving
that disease.

Meanwhile in Delta, assistant school superintendent Brad Bauman said
staff there are looking at ways to better safeguard their students,
following the fentanyl scare Aug. 31 involving nine 20-something
acquaintances in four different locations.

"That was a really big push the community went through, the nine
overdoses all in the same period," Bauman said.

The question of having naloxone kits available at schools has been
raised at school forums, he added.

"We're continuing consultations with health and first responders. The
advice we've been given so far is that (Delta's secondary schools) are
in such proximity to first responders, that's probably the best thing
for right now, having a protocol that's 911 based."

Bauman said the district is training first-aid staff over the next
month to recognize overdose symptoms.
- ---
MAP posted-by: Matt