Action Plan and Model to Reduce Potential Opioid Overdose Deaths on K-12 Campuses

Abstract

School communities are not immune to the alarming increase in opioid-related deaths occurring in the United States during the past decade. The purpose of this article is to share how a middle school in New York State, beginning in the late fall of 2022, successfully implemented a program to reduce the likelihood of opioid overdose deaths in their building through expansion of the accessibility of and education and training in use of naloxone, an opioid antagonist. The program is applicable for all K-12 campuses and follows the Model of Greater Awareness, Improved Training, and Increased Availability of and Accessibility to Intervention Devices, based on the steps successfully used for out-of-hospital cardiac arrest emergencies. Because opioid addiction does not discriminate, it is confidently projected that these targeted actions will proactively and positively reduce the likelihood of opioid overdose deaths in our school setting, including for students, faculty, staff, administrators, and visitors, when and should they occur.