Nurses At Black Horse Pike Schools Equipped With Heroin Antidote Narcan

GLOUCESTER TOWNSHIP, NJ — The three high schools in the Black Horse Pike Regional School District are the first in the state to carry the heroin antidote Narcan/Naloxone.

Nurses at Highland, Timber Creek and Triton regional high schools have been trained to administer the drug, which has saved hundreds of lives throughout the county, according to township and county officials.

Police departments across the state began using Naloxone/Narcan, a heroin antidote previously only available to hospital staff, after legislators passed the Opioid Antidote and Overdose Prevention Act in 2013. The antidote reverses the effect of a heroin overdose.

The school district passed the regulation to allow its nurses to carry the antidote at the end of 2016. Camden County Freeholder Louis Cappelli Jr., founder and liaison to the addiction awareness task force, called the regulation “innovative and a model for every other high school in New Jersey.”

“As a result of what I believe is our duty to care for children, our view is that Narcan, a potentially life-saving antidote, is not different than any other dispensation of medication. We took the steps, in consultation with our Board of Education, school nurses, Student Assistance Coordinators, the Camden County Addiction Task Force, and our local Police to develop policy language that would allow our nursing staff to utilize Narcan,” Black Horse Pike Regional Superintendent of Schools Dr. Brian Repici said. “The Board of Education was fully supportive, our nurses and Student Assistance Coordinators, Principals, were all fully supportive because we all shared the same view – that this medication could potentially save the life of one of our children. We are hopeful that we never have to use it, but our school nurses are trained to use the medication if the situation arises and our District policy permits and supports that implementation.”

The Black Horse Pike Regional School District combines three municipalities that share the Black Horse Pike in Gloucester Township, Runnemede and Bellmawr. The total size of the school system is about 3,800 students.

The school’s announcement represented another step in Gloucester Township’s efforts to combat addiction.

Three years ago, the township introduced its Save Advocate Program, which provides a counselor in the courtroom for lower-level drug offenders who are arrested, but were not previously offered help. That program recently expanded to allow for a counselor to be available on an on-call basis whenever an addict needs help.

That same year, a countywide Addiction Awareness Task Force was formed. The task force is a group of community members, law enforcement and medical professionals whose goal it is to help law enforcement officials educate the public and spread awareness.

Since its inception, it has distributed over 30,000 pieces of educational literature throughout the county, held community awareness and educational events with over 10,000 attendees, and worked with local law enforcement to expand access to medication drop boxes.

In addition, the task force’s Narcan/naloxone training program has equipped over 800 residents with overdose prevention kits, and provided every law enforcement agency in Camden County with Narcan, resulting in almost 1,000 Narcan saves countywide.

The county also has a program, Operation SAL, that is designed to help overdose victims with intensive outpatient treatment after they are saved using Narcan. The county dedicates $150,000 to direct funding for treatment for residents who overdose.

Earlier this year, Gov. Chris Christie made battling addiction the focal point of his final year in office. That effort is shared by local representatives.

“In 2015, our nation set an unacceptable new record – more than 50,000 Americans died from drug overdoses,” Rep. Donald Norcross (D-1) said following a recent roundtable discussion on the issue. “The soaring rise in deaths, fueled by heroin and prescription painkillers, now kills more Americans than car crashes, guns, terrorism or war. This is more than just a public health emergency – it’s a threat to our national security.”

Patch file photo