District working to make Narcan available in Laconia schools

LACONIA — The Laconia School District is in the process of acquiring naloxone, an overdose recovery medication more commonly known by its brand name Narcan, to have onsite for emergency access by school nurses in each of its five schools.

The addition of the medication is in line with advice issued by national and state school nurses associations, emphasizing how ready access to Narcan for school nurses as part of schools’ emergency preparedness responsibilities and can save lives. 

“With naloxone as part of an emergency protocol, a school nurse can quickly administer it to prevent overdose deaths by reversing life-threatening respiratory depression,” The National Association of School Nurses position states.

“The unique geography and rural nature of New Hampshire can often negatively impact and delay EMS response times to many schools within the state, as can the fact that many EMS providers in the state are volunteers,” the New Hampshire association’s position notes. “This delay necessitates the immediate access by school nurses to the life-saving measures that naloxone can provide.”

The district sees the change as just that, a form of emergency preparedness, according to Assistant Superintendent Amy Hinds. She compared access to the medication in cases of emergency to the availability and widespread awareness of AED machines for cardiac emergencies.

The move also aligns with training city schools and parents have received about the increased risk of accidental overdose, Laconia Middle School nurse Davlyn Wholley said. Specifically, she said, a presentation on the “One Pill Can Kill” initiative in the spring emphasized how higher percentages of substances accessible to students are being laced with fentanyl.

Wholly also emphasized the importance of education about Narcan to the wider public.

“A lot of this comes down to education, because I hear a lot that folks are pretty nervous about Narcan,” Wholley said. “It's a recognizable type of emergency, and it's very easy to administer ... it's a tool to have and it's a super important one because if [a medical emergency] is related to an opiate overdose, then the quicker we can reverse that, the better.”

At a school board meeting on Nov. 8, Superintendent Steve Tucker told the school board the district was working to make Narcan available in schools. Currently, Hinds said, the district is in the process of sourcing the medication before it can be made available. Additionally, she said, the board will have to approve some policy adjustments about medications nurses are allowed to administer.

Ward 3 board member Karin Salome, who retired from a near five-decade career as a nurse in 2021, spoke in support of the announcement at the meeting, and asked whether there would be access to the medication after school hours during things like adult education classes, performances and games. 

The possibility of training administrators, as well as school nurses, in how to use the medication is part of conversations nurses and the district are having in advance of this change, Hinds said. This would help address concerns about after-hours access, since administrators are more often onsite than nurses at that time.

Fire Chief Tim Joubert underscored the importance of the move, noting the number of overdose deaths among those aged 10-19 has increased dramatically in recent years. In addition to overdose risks among students, having the medication nearby is advisable for any place in Laconia and beyond that is hosting public gatherings.

“As a city, we’re trying to prepare ourselves to best handle those situations,” Joubert said. “I’m the type of person who would always rather have something and not need it than need it and not have it.”

The Newfound Area School District, responding to a push by both a school nurse and the student representative on its school board, made Narcan available in schools about a year ago.

In an interview, interim Superintendent Steven Nilhas said Newfound is currently looking into getting its administrators trained on how to use Narcan. Newfound has not had to use the emergency medication since it was added last year, he said.

“It’s a good tool for us to have,” Nilhas said, “as a just-in-case.”