BRANDENBURG, Ky. — There is a stage and a spotlight, but everything about the simulation is designed to feel real.
In the scenario, a young man named Brent is found unresponsive, medics begin CPR and rush him to the hospital.
A doctor appears by video to give a devastating update on his condition.
“We have done a formal brain death exam on him and declared him brain dead,” he says. “The next steps in the process will be discussing with nursing and your family about possible organ donation.”
“Brent was pronounced dead and transported to the morgue,” a narrator says.
A grieving mother leaves the room before a deputy coroner arrives to wheel the gurney away, concluding the simulation.
State records show over 6,000 people in Kentucky died from an overdose from 2020 through 2022.
Tuesday, Meade County High School students watched a simulation of what some of the families and medical staff impacted by those losses might experience, as part of an effort to prevent overdose deaths.
“There was nothing up there that was pretend,” said Erin Priddy, manager for Community Health and Wellness at Baptist Health Hardin, following the simulation. “It was the real EMS. It was a real ET tube. It was a real IV.”
After the simulation, a panel of people working in medicine, harm reduction and law enforcement explained about the Good Samaritan law, signs of an overdose and how to reverse one using the drug Narcan.
“When a person is given Narcan, the Narcan comes along and it knocks those opioids off the receptors and sits there basically blocking that from happening,” explained Jennifer Osborne, harm reduction manager for the Lincoln Trail District Health Department.
Organizers said the simulation was based on a real overdose death.
Baptist Health Hardin ICU Nurse Angelina Bellis shared about losing her own brother, Andrew.
“It can be one pill and that’s all it takes, and then your life is over, and then your family and your friends are here grieving the loss of you,” Bellis said in a video message.
From Dec. 2022 to May 2023, 20% of hospital overdose visits at Baptist Health Hardin were by people 18 and under, the hospital said.
The simulation is one of four the hospital will conduct over the next few weeks.
“I just think that ultimately, if we can save one kid, then we’ve done our job,” said Priddy. “One thing is that I hope that they take away that if they overdose or they have a friend that overdoses to please don’t leave the scene. Please use Narcan. Think first before you try a substance.”