Hawaii Keiki Nurses Offer Narcan Trainings to Public School Staff to Prevent Opioid Overdose in Schools
In response to the increase in opioid (fentanyl) products in Hawaii communities, Hawaii Keiki: Healthy and Ready to Learn school nurses are taking action to help prevent opioid overdoses on public school campuses. Hawaii Keiki nurses in partnership with the Hawaii Department of Education (HIDOE) and the Hawaii Department of Health are offering free training to HIDOE staff on the administration of naloxone, a life-saving medication that can reverse an overdose from opioids. The 90 minute in-person training provides critical information on the signs and symptoms of an opioid overdose, proper emergency response procedures, and how to safely administer naloxone. Naloxone is a reversal agent for opioids that can prevent serious effects of overdose from opioids. HIDOE staff are also taught other life saving interventions, including hands-only CPR and how to use an automated external defibrillator (AED).
“We prepared our staff by training them with a vetted educational platform from Overdose Lifeline around the opioid epidemic and naloxone to get a baseline understanding of the public health crisis. Then we worked closely with the Hawaii Department of Health and the Hawaii Health and Harm Reduction Center to design and prepare the training in order to make sure HIDOE staff would be receiving the best information possible,” said Adeline Kline, Hawaii Keiki Clinical Educator. “The Narcan training goes over all the steps that should be taken should an overdose incident occur and will help school staff feel confident in providing life-saving intervention.”
In the 22-23 School Year, 445 HIDOE and Hawaii Keiki School Health Support staff have attended the training and 211 schools have participated statewide. Over 80% of all HIDOE schools participated in Narcan training and also were taught hands-only CPR and how to use an AED. Although training attendance is voluntary, the goal is to eventually have at least one HIDOE staff member from each school attend the training. All Hawaii Keiki Nurses have Naloxone currently available in their emergency bags and soon all HIDOE schools with trained personnel will have Naloxone safely stored and readily available on campus.
Our Hawaii Keiki teams are providing much needed support and education around this public health crisis, said Kailene Oliveros, Hawaii Keiki Director of Clinical Operations. “The impact of naloxone training our nurses have provided has been demonstrated in the enhancement in response to student needs and collaboration with our school nurses.”
Visit the Hawaii Keiki: Healthy and Ready to Learn website to learn more about the program.