Philadelphia offers citizens Nalaxone training classes
Naloxone, commonly known as Narcan, has become an important tool in the fight against opioid overdoses, and the city of Philadelphia has begun to train citizens to administer it. According to the National Institute on Drug Abuse, Naloxone, is an easy to use reversal agent distributed in the form of a nasal spray, and has helped reverse more than 26,000 overdoses in 2014.
Katie Bean, assistant director of student outreach and support and head of Wellness, Alcohol and Drug Education (WADE), said that is an easy training to do, but that not everyone has to attend a Naloxone training session.
“You don’t need to have an extensive medical background,” Bean said. “I don’t think it’s something where every person on campus should go through it. For a lot of people I do think it would be very valuable.”
Bean added that training people to use Naloxone won’t solve the problem of the opioid epidemic, but it will help an overdose situation.
“It seems like a simple and obvious solution,” Bean said. “Not a solution for the problem of substance abuse disorder, but a solution to an acute overdose situation.”
Naloxone takes two to five minutes to take effect to reverse an opioid overdose and may require more than one dose. The reversal tools reserves or blocks the effects of the opioids.
“It is a very user friendly mechanism. It is not complex,” said Christine O’Leary, adjunct professor in the interdisciplinary health services major in the department of health services. “It comes in a ready to use nasal spray that simply needs to be put into the nose of the person who has overdosed and it administers a life saving dose.”
O’Leary further said the Philadelphia Department of Health has created free sessions to train people to use Naloxone.
“Community members could be trained easily with power to help a friend or a family member, which is where formal training came from” O’Leary said.
According to the Pennsylvania Department of Drug and Alcohol Programs (DDAP), when Gov. Tom Wolf declared the opioid epidemic a statewide emergency in January 2018, the declaration empowered emergency service providers to leave naloxone behind after a 911 visit.
Act 139, also known as David’s Law, “allows first responders acting at the direction of a health care professional authorized to prescribe naloxone, to administer the drug to individuals experiencing an opioid overdose.”
The Pennsylvania Department of Health issued a Naloxone Standing Order which ensures that anyone who may experience an opioid overdose, or is a family member, friend or in a position to assist someone experiencing an opioid overdose, has access to Naloxone. The Standing Order allows people to have access to Naloxone from a pharmacy if they do not receive it from their health care physician.
O’Leary added that a person could not be denied a prescription to Naloxone.
“You can walk into any pharmacy in Pennsylvania and ask for Naloxone without a prescription,” O’Leary said.
Evan Mullen ’17, a former Flock member and now an AmeriCorps Volunteers in Service to America (VISTA) volunteer, said training community members is important. The Hispanic Family Center, where Mullen currently works, co-hosted a free Naloxone training session.
“It’s important to train the community to save lives and to make sure you’re ready for an overdose, which you may see,” Mullen said. “Everywhere you can be a bystander to someone overdosing. It’s just as important as CPR training.”
Prevention Point Philadelphia, an organization that provides Naloxone kits to people who are uninsured based on their willingness to pay is “a private nonprofit organization providing harm reduction services to Philadelphia and the surrounding area,” according to their website.
“There has been a huge push in the last few months, people are going to start seeing a lot of the impact now,” Mullen said. “A lot of policy makers have noticed the issue. The awareness that people have whether they live in Philly or Jersey, awareness has made a huge impact, being more knowledgeable.”
Naloxone is an evidence-based approach to reversing the overdose said O’Leary. The training sessions allow the people who will be exposed to the situations to help.
“It gives a person who has overdosed another chance, it gives the people in the community something active they can do,” O’Leary said.
Naloxone training sessions at Prevention Point, 2913 Kensington Ave, are free and open to the public. The PA Department of Public Health, located at 500 S Broad Street also offers free training sessions.
