Naloxone kits now in rural eastern Ontario English schools

Around 150 English schools just outside the City of Ottawanow have naloxone kits in their offices and staff trained to use them, which board officials say is a proactive move to prevent a potential fentanyl crisis in their communities.

On Tuesday, more than 100 staff members from all 50 schools in theCatholic District School Board of Eastern Ontario gathered in Cornwall, Ont.,and Kemptville, Ont.,for 30-minute training sessions onhow to use naloxone nasal spray.

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Naloxoneis an antidote that can reverse the harmful effects of anopioidoverdose and save someone's life.

"It's literally putting the medication in someone's nose and pulling a plunger,then moving them into a recovery position," said WilliamGartland, the board's director of education, who took the training on Tuesday.

'Like having another tool in your first aid kit'

Two months agothe two public health agencies that cover the same area as their schools approached their board to share their concerns about opioids,including the powerful painkillerfentanyl,in rural eastern Ontario, Gartland said.

The board said Tuesday it purchased naloxone kits for every school, but Gartland said he hopes they never have to use them.

"I have great staff in our schools here and in our board office that are ready to respond on a daily basis if somebody goes into a crisis. That could be somebody who's injured on a football field to someone [who] has an allergic reaction," Gartland said.

"Our staff are quite comfortable in terms of responding. That's a responsibility for educators [the kits are] like having another tool in your first aid kit."

In fact,the kits will stay in the main office of each of their schools, right beside the first aid kits, ready for any trained staff member to use them, Gartland said.

Public board staff already trained

The English public school board in the area, theUpper Canada District School Board, trained staff at its nearly 100 schools on how to use naloxone kits in the first week of May.

"Ithink we had an opportunity here where we got notice ahead of a crisis coming," said David Coombs, the board's superintendent of schools.

"We know fentanyl is already in our communities, even in small-town eastern Ontario it's not nice to think about that these kind ofthings can happen and do happen within smaller communities, certainly within our region, but we don't want to put our head in the sand."

Both Gartland and Coombssaid they didn't know anyone who had overdosed on opioids on one of their school properties.

We're public buildings, you never know what comes on a given day and you want to make sure you're prepared for any eventuality.- DavidCoombs

Similarly, they said all of their schools have defibrillators in case someone goes into cardiac arrestand they hadn't been needed yet either.

"We're public buildings, you never know what comes on a given day and you want to make sure you're prepared for any eventuality," Coombs said.

"Certainly, it's scary. You don't want to be caught not knowing what to do."

Neither of the boards responded to a follow-up request from CBC News askinghow much the kits cost.

In Ottawa, both the English public and Catholic boards said they're working on their own plans to equipschools with naloxone kits.