UPDATE: 5:30 a.m.
Naloxone kits will be available in Central Okanagan high schools.
The Central Okanagan school board passed a motion during a regular board meeting, Wednesday night, to have kits on standby in secondary schools across the district and to have staff members trained to use them.
Naloxone is a drug which can reverse an opioid overdose temporarily and is available to anyone without a prescription in B.C. for emergency use.
ORIGINAL:
Naloxone kits may be available in Central Okanagan high schools.
The Central Okanagan school board will discuss if naloxone kits should be accessible at secondary schools and if staff should receive training to operate the kits at its regular board meeting, Wednesday night.
According to district superintendent Kevin Kaardal, around one or two kits would be available per site and the cost of training is free for the district.
The kits are also inexpensive, he said.
Naloxone is a drug which can reverse an opioid overdose temporarily and is available to anyone without a prescription in B.C. for emergency use.
RELATED: Overdose rates climbing in the Okanagan
Interior Heath requested school districts to perform assessments of the chance of someone witnessing an overdose and the consequences of not having a kit available, says a report to be presented at the school board meeting.
“(There have been) recent reports of a couple of students who have self-identified to using fentanyl off school site and came to school for help. Also, some students have reported that they have been in social communities that use opiates,” says the report.
There have only been a few school-age children overdoses in the province, reports Interior Heath and none were on school grounds.