Laurel Highlands introduces Narcan policy

NORTH UNION TWP. — The Laurel Highlands School Board introduced a policy Thursday that would stock district schools with the opioid overdose drug, naloxone.
School directors unanimously approved the first reading of a policy for the district-wide use of the drug, widely known by the name brand Narcan, which can be administered to reverse the effects of an opioid overdose.
Superintendent Dr. Jesse Wallace said the policy calls for Narcan to be stored in all district schools as a proactive measure in the event of an overdose.
“We want to make sure we’re prepared for any type of situation that we may face,” Wallace said.
A final policy would have to be approved by the board before Narcan is stocked in the district.
Wallace said while board support for the policy has been a “mixed bag” during the past couple months of discussion, he feels the board has come together to agree on a sensible plan for the drug.
The biggest concern for several school directors, he said, has been the notion of storing Narcan in the district’s elementary schools.
Narcan has been stocked in various local school districts in the past several years as heroin and opioid abuse has escalated throughout the region and across the country.
When given during an overdose, Narcan blocks the effects of opioids on the brain and helps a person to breathe again. The drug can be given via nasal spray, syringe or an auto injector shot, similar to an EpiPen.