A B.C. school trustee is pushing for naloxone kits to be placed in schools across the province, as health authorities continue to battle the ongoing opioid overdose crisis.
Susan Carr, a Maple Ridge school trustee, says that schools have been given permission to purchase naloxone kits – which are used to reverse the effects of an opioid overdose – but too few are doing so.
"It's why I'm trying to get it mandated across the province, so that everybody is on the same playing field and we have the same level of protection for kids and the same level of comfort for staff right across the province," Carr told CTV Vancouver.
The kits, which cost school districts $50 per package, have been purchased by five schools in Victoria, two schools in Merritt and several in the Metro Vancouver suburb of Maple Ridge.
The purchases were spurred by a 2016 letter from the provincial health officer to all B.C. school superintendents, recommending the purchase of the kits for schools that administrators believe have a high risk population or where staff are aware of students using drugs on or near school grounds.
"Is it fair to put that kind of pressure on the principal of a school? How is a principal of a school of several hundred kids supposed to know what every kid is up to?" said Carr.
In a statement to CTV News, the B.C. Ministry of Education said a government working group has developed a "naloxone risk assessment tool" for groups including school districts.
The ministry said it sent the tool, as well as naloxone kit order forms and related information to all school superintendents and independent school principals in July.
"If school administrators know they have a high-risk population in their school, or are aware of students using illegal drugs on or near school grounds, public health officials recommend buying a naloxone kit for the school and ensuring a staff person knows how to use it," the ministry said in the statement.
It said education is key to ensuring students are aware of the risks of potentially deadly drugs.
Youth, aged 15 to 24, saw the fastest growing rate of hospitalization for opioid poisonings in 2016.
Carr's stance is similar to that of the position held by the city of Maple Ridge, which tabled a motion at Monday's Union of B.C. Municipalities meeting to have provincial staff train school staff in middle and secondary schools on how to administer naloxone.
Gordon Swan, the president of the British Columbia School Trustees Association, says several schools in the district he represents have naloxone kits on their premises.
"It was positive once they understood what our rationale was," said Swan, who is a school trustee with School District 58. "We're hoping we never have to use them but we thought in our district it was important simply because of how far first respondents could be away from the community."
With a report from CTV Vancouver's Jon Woodward
