Guidance on Opioid Overdose Prevention and Response
The Office of Student Support Services has collaborated with the Hawai‘i State Department of Health and the Hawai‘i Keiki Program to develop the Department's Opioid Overdose Prevention and Response Guidance. Some of the topics covered include resources to support mental health and recommendations to prevent and reduce the risk of opioid-related overdose deaths. Below are a few of the key points from the guidance relating to naloxone, an opioid overdose reversal medication:
Factsheet on Opioids: Misuse Prevention and Response
The Drug Enforcement Administration is advising the public of an alarming emerging trend of colorful fentanyl available across the United States. Fentanyl has been seized in multiple forms, including pills, powder and blocks that resembles sidewalk chalk. Every color, shape and size of fentanyl should be considered extremely dangerous.
Fentanyl is a synthetic opioid that is 50 times more potent than heroin and 100 times more potent than morphine. Just two miligrams of fentanyl, which is equal to 10-15 gains of table salt, is considered a lethal dose.
The Hawai‘i State Department of Education (HIDOE) is collaborating with the Hawai‘i State Department of Health and the Hawai‘i Keiki program to adress the dangers of opioid misuse and overdose.
This partnership is also improving access to Narcan, a medication approved by the Food and Drug Administration designed to rapidly reverse opioid overdose, in schools. Narcan is already available at schools with a Hawai‘i Keiki nurse. A total of 54 Hawai‘i Keiki nurses provide nursing services at HIDOE schools. They have Narcan in their emergency bags and are trained on how to administer it if needed.
The HIDOE rolled out opportunities for employees from priority role groups (e.g., administrators, athletic directors and health care trainers, school security personnel, school health assistants and educational officers) to register for voluntary training to respond to potential opioid overdoese at schools and offices, and will be an annual training offered to HIDOE employees.
The goal is to have every HIDOE facility equipped with a supply of Narcan from the Department of Health and employees who have completed training on opioid overdose response provided by the Hawai‘i Keiki program.
Factsheet on Opioids: Misuse Prevention and Response Translations: