Updated: 11:56 a.m. Sunday, Nov. 8, 2015 | Posted: 7:30 a.m. Sunday, Nov. 8, 2015

Could school nurses soon be giving Narcan?

It’s seen as a preventative measure as more drug overdose deaths occur.

By  http://www.journal-news.com/staff/lauren-pack/" rel="nofollow - Staff Writer

BUTLER COUNTY — 

Butler County law enforcement and health officials are voicing support for Sen. Sherrod Brown’s call upon the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services to help schools maintain a supply of naloxone, better known as narcan, for use in in opioid overdose emergencies.

In 2014, 103 people died of heroin overdoses, according to the Middletown Health Department and the Butler County Coroner’s Office. As of June this year, there have been 85 heroin overdose deaths.

“I will support whatever is necessary to fight the heroin crisis in our city — whatever our school district decides I would support their decisions fully,” said Middletown Police Chief Rodney Muterspaw.

Narcan reverses the effects of heroin or opiate-derived drug overdoses.

In an Oct. 29 letter addressed to the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services, Brown (D-Ohio) asked that grants be made available through existing programs, including the Rural Opioid Overdose program, to assist schools in the acquisition of naloxone and the training of school nurses and other personnel in its use.

“Too many young people are facing drug abuse and drug overdoses,” Brown said in a release. “The National Association of School Nurses and school administrators across the country agree: we need to use every resource available to save young lives.”

The president of the National Association of School Nurses, Beth Mattey, told this news organization that there is a need to address the overall problem of prescription opiate and heroin abuse now: “It is in the community; it is just a matter of time before it is in the schools.”

Butler County Sheriff Richard Jones said he supports any measure that would help stop the heroin epidemic for those who are young enough to kick it.

“Sure I would support it for kids because there are kids that don’t always make the right choice,” Jones said. “You know, kids have a chance to beat it, but the adults you see sleeping under the bridge addicted, it is really tough. It is a battle and we are not doing well.”

Drug cartels target children as new customers, so it is important to make a difference early, according to Jones.

“I do believe, along with the narcan, they should also have to enter a treatment program after they overdose,” he said. “Just saving them doesn’t do any good if they continue to overdose.”

Jackie Phillips, Middletown Health Department director, said young people are overdosing and she believes narcan should be available where those emergencies are occurring.

“If schools are where overdoses are occurring, then I could certainly see it at a nurses station or with a resource officer,” Phillips said.

“It is a safe drug and it can save someone. I would hate see someone in front of me overdosing and not be able to help them,” she said, adding that she always has a Narcan dose at the ready.

Tracy Heineke, Hamilton City Schools supervisor to health service said, “I don’t know of any policy regarding this. We have a very quick EMS response so we shouldn’t ever need it like perhaps a more rural district may.”

The president of the National Association of School Nurses, Beth Mattey, told this news organization that there is a need to address the overall problem of prescription opiate and heroin abuse now: “It is in the community; it is just a matter of time before it is in the schools.”

According to the Centers for Disease Controls 2013 National Youth Risk Behavior Survey, 17.8 percent of high school students had used a prescription drug, including opioids at least once in their life, 2.2 percent had used heroin and 22.1 percent had used, sold or been offered drugs on school property.

But Dayton grandmother Deborah Ogletree said she disagrees with Brown’s request.

“I believe in our schools we ought to have something called boundaries,” Ogletree said. “And that is far, way outside the boundary of what a school is all about.”

Illinois, Delaware, Kentucky, Louisiana, Massachusetts, New York, Pennsylvania, Rhode Island and Vermont all have laws or programs allowing school nurses and other personnel to administer naloxone at schools. According to Senator Brown’s office, the majority of these states do not, however, provide funding for the acquisition of naloxone or training in its use, and few have decided to maintain a supply at this time.