(Andrew Neel)

By Josh Hall (Twitter: @Vancan19)

precautions, prevention and intervention

Red Deer youth not immune from the opioid crisis

Nov 23, 2019 | 8:00 AM

It’s important to keep youth in mind when discussing the opioid crisis, according to those who work with youngsters in this city and province.

Red Deer Public Schools, for instance, has three schools with multiple naloxone kits, which are for reversing the potentially deadly effects of an opioid overdose. Lindsay Thurber has 20 kits in eight separate locations, more than any other in the division.

Bruce Buruma, RDPS’ director of community relations, says important conversations with experts were had before putting the life-saving kits in schools.

“We always want to manage risk the very best we can. We think the risk is low for there being specific incidents with students within the schools. In many cases, it’s with regards to situations and incidents that could happen in the neighbourhoods.”

Staff at many schools also take time each day to canvas the school grounds for needle debris, Buruma adds.

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According to a survey conducted by the division, 15 schools responded that they didn’t have naloxone kits, but five of those schools had considered acquiring a kit or two. Seven schools stated they didn’t feel an on-site naloxone kit was necessary.

Anywhere from one to 15 staff at the schools that do have them were provided training from staff at Turning Point and Safe Harbour.

Tricia Peden, a registered nurse at Turning Point, says if a youth has gotten into hard drugs, it’s often experimental.

“There’s more of an awareness now among teachers because they hear their students talking, sharing stories about family or their friends, and they may have friends who are dying or family dying, and there are more conversations happening in the schools,” says Peden. “We’re getting more invitations from individual teachers to come out to present to specific classes to train them on naloxone.”

Peden agrees that naloxone kits are extremely important to have in schools.

“What if it’s a parent on site or what if it’s an instructor or staff at the school? We know the general public, you and I, and every other profession out there, uses substances. Wherever there’s the public, there’s a chance somebody can overdose.”

Youth are welcome at Turning Point, she adds, but additional services would always be welcome. Street Ties, which builds relationships with and provides crisis counselling for youth, is another local program where Red Deer youth can turn for help.

“There’s a lot of fear surrounding this and people don’t know what to do about it,” Peden adds. “It’s important to educate yourself, whether you choose to come into the office or ask us to come in to speak to a group … become educated and understand why people use substances, what gets them to that point, understand it’s regular people, and how we should interact with them.”

According to Alberta’s Child and Youth Advocate office, 12 youth died from opioid use between 2015 and 2017.

Author’s note: A previous version of this story stated that Street Ties is one local organization which has provided naloxone training to Red Deer Public Schools. This is false, and we regret the error.