LOUISVILLE, Ky. — Every public school in Jefferson County now has two boxes of the overdose-reversing drug Narcan and recently, some of the district’s new nurses and nursing assistants learned how to use it.

What You Need To Know

  • Each school in JCPS now has two boxes of the overdose-reversing drug Narcan 

  • Nurses have been trained to administer Narcan 

  • The district began distributing the medication in February

  • Leaders say it will help keep students and adults safe

Jefferson County Public Schools nurse Rita Bole led a training that showed how to administer Narcan and other procedures.

“Thumb goes down here, each finger up here, put it right up to your nose and then just push it in,” she demonstrated, holding the nasal spray.

The medication, which the district began providing schools in February, will help keep both students and adults safe, said district health manager Eva Stone.

Nurses and staff who are involved in administering emergency medications have been trained on how to use it, she said. 

“We’ve had overdoses happen … no fatalities, but something that, we have parents coming in and out of our buildings all the time,” said Stone. “We have people at events at our schools … We’ve had issues with folks in the pickup line, and so we just knew that it was something that we needed to have.”

The District Health Services Department handles “coordinating the purchase, distribution, maintenance and replacement of opioid antagonists in schools, and the training of school personnel in its use,” according to board policy.

Last year, EMS revived a student at Noe Middle School with naloxone, according to Missy Mann, a school nurse.

The wait for first responders was just a few minutes, but felt like “an eternity,” she recalled.

“It absolutely would have helped to have had it then,” she told Spectrum News 1. “I was so thrilled to find out we were getting it. Not thrilled because we need it, but … to have it here.”  

The Narcan is stored in two locations in the building.

Accidents happen and having the medication on hand could save a life, said Mann.

“It doesn’t matter the age,” said Mann. “A lot of times you’ll see kids bring stuff in from home, whether they’ve got it elsewhere or at home, they’ve brought it in. They want to share…We can only educate so much, so this is the backup plan.”

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