Overdose reversal: Push on high school nurses to carry Narcan
There is a new reality for high school nurses across the country- students overdosing on opioids, or prescription painkiller.
In January, The Clinton Foundation announced it is willing to give out the drug Narcan- for free- to any high school that wants to carry it.
Narcan now comes in a nasal spray and it reverses the effects of an overdose by essentially blocking the opioid receptors that many prescription pain killers target.
The maker of Narcan, Adapta Pharm, said it wants every high school in the U.S. to be prepared for the worse.
In 2015, the National Institute on Drug Abuse surveyed 44,892 high school seniors from both public and private schools, more than five-percent admitted to using opioids.
According to the Centers for Disease Control, prescription opioid overdose-related deaths claimed 18,893 lives in the U.S. in 2014.
In El Paso County, the Medical Examiner’s Office reported 43 opioid-related deaths in 2014 with the youngest only 18 years of age.
Two years prior, the youngest person to die was 16 years old.
Ellen Bissette, president of the Texas School Nurses Association for Region 19, said prescription pain killers are easily accessible to children when they are found in medicine cabinets at home.
“You get a high from it and that’s exciting to them. I think there’s some peer pressure to do some of these things as well especially if it’s something that’s readily available,” Bissette said.
Bissette said the local and national associations support the use of Narcan in high schools.
“We need to advocate for our students and as well as for ourselves when we find ourselves being the first responders.”
Fortunately, opioid overdoses are not a problem in El Paso schools, but Bissette added it is something nurses have to prepare for.
“School nurse managers are working on policy so they’re prepared in the eventuality that it comes down the pike,” Bissette said.
Currently, local high school nurses do not carry Narcan.
Narcan is only available by prescription in Texas and it is typically used by emergency services personnel.
At this point, there is no legislation with teeth at the state capitol.
The use of Narcan also needs approval by school districts and funding for training.
Nurse administrator at The Hospitals of Providence, John Duran, said Narcan in high schools can be a good idea, but only with extensive training for nurses.
“(Narcan) is going to have some side effects when you quickly reverse a medication such as an opioid.”
Side effects include vomiting, nausea, pain and delirium.
Duran said nurses must know what to look for and be able to recognize when a student is in fact overdosed.
Bissette said, with proper training, she is confident schools nurses will know how to identify and react to an overdosed student.
“Most of the nurses at the campuses are all registered nurses,” said Bissette.
“That’s huge for El Paso because that isn’t the case in all of the country.”
OPIOIDS TO HEROIN
Angie Solis, 24, spends most of her time at faith-based rehab center, Teen Challenge International, in central El Paso. Despite its name, the program works extensively with adults.
She is nearly seven months into the program and takes part in Bible study class with about five other women.
All of them have their own dorm room where they sleep.
It’s quite the contrast from where she found herself before she checked into rehab.
Solis is working to defeat her addiction to heroin.
“It took me to a whole other place, it took over everything and it took over my live,” she said.
Solis admitted to experimenting as a teenager with opioids, alcohol and marijuana.
Shortly after she got pregnant with her first child.
During labor, there was complications with the epideral that was given to her, causing spinal cord damage.
“I was always in so much pain, my back always hurt,” said Solis.
Doctors prescribed a painkiller, Percocet, to ease the pain.
Before she knew it, Solis found herself relying on the opioid to get her through the day.
Solis said she started returning to the pharmacy days before it was time to refill her prescription.
Doctors soon caught on and cut off her prescription, but that didn’t stop Solis from finding other ways to fill her dependency.
Solis’ boyfriend and father of her baby introduced her to heroin, telling her it would make her feel better.
“I started going to the streets to get what i needed,” she said.
The young spiraled out of control, eventually losing her daughter and everything she owned.
“My addiction ruined relationships, no one trusted me anymore and I started committing crimes,” she recalled.
Solis remembers overdosing many times and waking up in vacant buildings.
“I was homeless.”
She wasn’t always alone when she got high, recalling waking up to blurry images after blacking out.
“They had to slap me back to life, they had to throw water on me to revive me. I felt like everything in my body shut down.”
When describing her accounts of others high on heroin, or “bound,” she said the deadly drug makes you feel nothing at all.
“If you’re having any cares in the world, it’s (heroin) going to take it away.”
Her description of someone on heroin could match a character from the popular show ‘The Walking Dead.’
“A drooling zombie. It’s ugly to say but that’s what it looks like,” as she cringed from recalling the haunting images.
When asked about her lowest point during this time, Solis could not hold back her tears.
Solis got pregnant again, but the drug use continued.
“Seeing a little, tiny baby addicted to heroin…shaking…because of my consequences.”
There were several moments when Solis wiped away the tears that poured out of her eyes as she described a past that she said is now behind her.
“I have God now.”
In a few months, Solis will begin the “re-entry” phase of her rehab program.
She plans to get her GED, get a degree and provide for her children.
Solis’ daughter is in the custody of her mother and her little boy is in Colorado with her boyfriend’s parents.
She said her boyfriend is also working towards recovery from his addiction to heroin.
“I’m here to serve now,” she said.
For more information:
