Naloxone (Narcan) is now accessible in campus AED cabinets as part of the IC Opioid Overdose Prevention Initiative

07/10/18

As you pass by any of the AED cabinets on campus, you’ll notice something new: a bright gold sticker labeled, “Naloxone.” Naloxone (brand name, “Narcan”) is a safe, over-the-counter medication that can reverse the life-threatening effects of an opioid overdose. Two doses of naloxone nasal spray, along with instructions for use, are now available in every AED cabinet on campus. This is one of a series of measures spearheaded by the IC Alcohol and Other Drug (AOD) Prevention Team as part of our newly launched Opioid Overdose Prevention Initiative. 

Opioid overdose has now been described as a national epidemic. In response, the U.S. Surgeon General recently issued an advisory recommending that naloxone be made widely accessible to the public so that non-medical bystanders may effectively intervene to save a life in such cases. While IC has been fortunate in that we have not yet directly experienced the loss of a student or employee from an opiate overdose, the AOD Team has proposed that we take proactive public health measures to prevent this tragedy from occurring on our campus.

In addition to adding naloxone to the existing AED cabinets, the AOD Team is collaborating with our local Southern Tier AIDS Program (STAP) to provide free Opioid Overdose Prevention workshops to interested individuals on campus. Two workshops were held last spring, and additional workshops will be scheduled for the 2018-2019 academic year. This workshop is designed to help participants understand basic information about harm reduction and drug use, signs of drug overdose, and how to administer naloxone in the case of an opioid overdose emergency. Participants who complete the workshop have the option to receive a free opioid overdose prevention/naloxone kit.

The AOD Team would like to thank Dr. Rosanna Ferro for her support of this initiative. And we are grateful to Tim Ryan, Assistant Director of Environmental Health and Safety, for his work to install naloxone kits and labels in the 30+ AED cabinets across campus this summer.

Additional information about opioid overdose and the use of naloxone can be found on the National Institute of Drug Abuse (NIDA) website. 

More information about the work of Southern Tier AIDS Program (STAP) can be found at: https://www.stapinc.org/

For information about the IC Opioid Overdose Prevention Initiative, including the upcoming campus workshops, contact Nancy Reynolds in the Center for Health Promotion, at nreynolds@ithaca.edu. (Please note that the Center for Health Promotion is closed for the summer, and a response to your email may be delayed).

Individuals with disabilities requiring accommodations should contact Nancy Reynolds at nreynolds@ithaca.edu or (607) 274-3136. We ask that requests for accommodations be made as soon as possible.

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