Wellness Center Hosts First Public Narcan Training, Opioid Awareness Workshop

The Wellness Center hosted a Narcan Training Workshop Nov. 30 to inform members of the Loyola community on the opioid crisis and how to administer the overdose reversal nasal spray.

The session was hosted by Callie Powers, the university’s new alcohol and other drug educator. She said implementing Narcan was the first thing the Wellness Center wanted her to work on when she was hired in July.

“It was very much like, ‘This is a priority for whoever is in this position,’” Powers said to The Phoenix. “This has been a lot of research, a lot of seeing what other schools have been doing and compiling everything and then finally getting it together to put something in place this school year.”

Narcan is a brand of naloxone — a life-saving nasal spray which can rapidly reverse the effects of an opioid overdose, according to the National Institute of Health.

Powers opened her presentation at 6 p.m. by defining opioids as depressants, often designed for pain management. Medications such as codeine, morphine, oxycodone and fentanyl are all considered opioids.

Naloxone works by blocking receptors in the nervous system which have been affected and reversing the effects of other opioids, according to the NIH.

The first step in responding to an opioid overdose is identifying the symptoms, Powers said. These include no response to stimulation, snoring or gurgling, infrequent or no breathing, clammy skin and a low pulse.

Powers and the Wellness Center then suggest immediately calling 911 or Loyola Campus Safety at 773-508-7233, even before administering Narcan.

“You want to get them there as soon as possible because any paramedic, any police officer is going to have Narcan,” Powers said. 

Campus Safety has been carrying Narcan since 2017, The Phoenix previously reported, and the Chicago Police Department has been carrying it since 2018.

The next step is administering the Narcan, which begins with removing the nasal spray from the box and peeling back the tab which keeps it from expiring. The nasal spray can then be held with a thumb on the plunger and two fingers on either side of the nozzle.

The tip of the nozzle can then be inserted into either nostril and the plunger should be pressed firmly, according to Powers.

The final step is evaluating the person who overdosed and providing additional support. Powers said placing the person in the recovery position — on their side with hands supporting their head — is ideal, followed by watching the person closely and administering another dose if the initial Narcan doesn’t work in one to two minutes.

“There’s no harm if it’s only been two and a half minutes and you are worried and want to do a second dose,” Powers said. “That’s fine. It’s more just, if you didn’t need the second one, you might not want to waste it, but obviously it’s an emergency situation.” 

The effects of Narcan should then last for 30 to 90 minutes, Powers said. Then paramedics can take over.

In their annual notification of their alcohol and other drug policies and resources sent Nov. 28, the Wellness Center sent out an email about the opioid crisis to the Loyola community.

“We also want to make all members of our community aware of the dangers and increasing prevalence of prescription medication misuse and opioid overdoses,” the email read. “There has been a dramatic increase in the number of overdose deaths nationwide due to fentanyl, which is a synthetic opioid that is 50 to 100 times more powerful than morphine.”

There were a record number of 2,000 opioid-related deaths in Cook County in 2022, according to the Cook County Medical Examiner’s Office — 1,825 of which were caused by fentanyl. 

This includes Loyola second-year Max Larson, who died from fentanyl poisoning Oct. 29, 2022 in Bellarmine Hall after taking what he believed to be a Xanax, The Phoenix previously reported. 

In the presentation, Powers said the Wellness Center takes a “harm reduction” approach when it comes to drug awareness and education.

“A lot of people would love to say, ‘Let’s just stop using drugs, let’s tell people to not be addicted,’” Powers said. “That is not realistic. That is not something that I will ever say to anyone about any kind of substance abuse. Having a substance use disorder is a very, very hard thing, and it’s very difficult to get off of drugs, especially opioids.”

The session ended as Powers opened the floor for questions and provided those who attended with free Narcan.

Reservations for the event filled up within two days, and second-year Meghana Chillakuru was one of approximately 30 people who attended the event. She said she has known a lot of people who have overdosed and been saved by Narcan.

“I just knew it was something important for me to learn more about, because I knew the basics, like the fact that you can just, like, plunge it into their nose, but I didn’t know how to recognize an overdose or the actual positions to put them in,” Chillakuru said.

Powers said this is technically the second Narcan training the Wellness Center has hosted, the first being for faculty and staff in October. She said the Nov. 30 training, held in a Mundelein classroom, was a “pilot run” for future training sessions.

“I could see what questions people had, what things that I needed to make sure to highlight or add to the presentation,” Powers said.

The Wellness Center is planning two more Narcan training sessions for late January, according to Powers, followed by a marketing campaign, faculty and staff training and a “big push” in March.

“I’m aware that people are going to drink, are going to use drugs,” Powers said. “So how can I help them be as safe as possible, while also encouraging them to take those steps to make those decisions for themselves?”

Powers said her goal is to create a place on Loyola’s campus where Narcan can be picked up by students. Narcan can currently be found for free at the entrance of Chicago Public Libraries and purchased over the counter at local pharmacies. 

Featured image by Austin Hojdar / The Phoenix