UAMS Teams Up with Attorney General’s Office to Produce Narcan Video
| Arkansas Attorney General Tim Griffin launched his office’s “One Pill Can Kill” initiative last October, a program designed to provide life-saving resources on the state’s college campuses as well as education on overdose prevention.
To combat the ongoing opioid crisis in the state, Griffin turned to two University of Arkansas for Medical Sciences (UAMS) employees for assistance in creating an educational video that offers details about the hazards of certain drugs and how to care for someone who has overdosed on them.
Alison Oliveto, Ph.D.
Alison Oliveto, Ph.D., director of the Psychiatric Research Institute’s Center for Addiction Research and team leader of the Arkansas Statewide Epidemiological Outcomes Workgroup, presented on the dangers of fentanyl at a first-responder training event at the attorney general’s office in July. She was then approached in August about taking part in a video that would be used to train college students on the dangers of opioid use and how to reduce the risk of fatal opioid overdoses. The video, financed by opioid settlement funds, provides viewers with in-depth information about opioid usage in the United States and common myths involving illicit drugs.
Oliveto asked Peggy Healy, program manager of the UAMS Center for Addiction Services and Treatment, to join her in the project. Along with appearing in the video to demonstrate how to properly administer Narcan, an opioid-overdose treatment, Healy will be leading training sessions for students at several colleges around the state. She recently conducted sessions on how and when to use Narcan, the commercial name for naloxone, at the University of Arkansas at Little Rock and the University of Arkansas at Pine Bluff.
“The schools were surprised at the turnout at the sessions. More students showed up than expected,” said Healy, who expects to take part in more of the roughly 50 training sessions planned for universities around Arkansas.
In the video, Oliveto reinforces the need for educating young people about the dangers of opioids like fentanyl, pointing out that bystanders were on hand at two-thirds of documented adolescent overdoses in the U.S. in recent years, but no lifesaving care was offered.
“Most drug overdose deaths have been attributed to the potent opioid pain reliever fentanyl, which has contaminated much of the drug supply, including counterfeit pills,” said Oliveto. “Educating college students about the dangers of fentanyl contamination, how to avoid drug overdoses and, if an overdose occurs, how to administer the opioid blocker Narcan to save a life is vital to help keep our college students safe.”