Fabiola Rio / The Mossy Log
Lewis & Clark’s Director of Health Promotion and Wellness (HPW), Michelle Callahan, has spearheaded an initiative to place Narcan in dorms and academic buildings. There are now 16 Narcan wall installations on the undergraduate campus.
Naloxone, the generic name for the brand Narcan, is a medicine that acts rapidly against harmful effects of opioids on the respiratory system.
“In the event of an opioid overdose, opioids attach to certain parts of the brain that can prevent someone from being able to breathe on their own,” said Callahan. “Narcan helps to replace the opioids on the brain’s receptors.”
Narcan is considered very safe, and has no negative side effects if there are no opioids present.
“Say a student is unsure as to whether or not someone has taken opioids, or may have taken a substance that is laced with opioids,” said Callahan. “If they give them Narcan and there are no opioids, there will be no adverse effects to that person.”
Harm reduction focuses on education and prevention, rather than condemnation of various substance and mental health-related behaviors. It is impossible to control the substance use of others, but HPW focuses on assisting students in the instance of an emergency.
“I’m never here to tell someone what they should or should not do with their body,” said Callahan. “If they’re going to engage in behaviors that might be harmful to themselves or to their body, how can we prevent those harms or reduce them?”
To learn more about Narcan and other preventative and health-related resources, students can get in contact with, and attend events hosted by, the Harm Reduction Community Outreach Club.
“The Harm Reduction club, a student group here on campus, hosts training periodically on how to use Narcan. There are a ton of great resources online, such as the Multnomah County Harm Reduction website or the National Harm Reduction Coalition.”
Each Narcan wall box is equipped with a QR code. If there is no Narcan in the box, a student can scan the code to view a map of the other naloxone equipped locations on campus.
To learn more information about Narcan and its use, visit the HPW office in the Fowler Student Center.
“(The HPW Office) is happy to talk with students about how to use Narcan or any substance use or behaviors that they might be wanting to change or just explore a little bit more,” said Callahan.
Thanks to Callahan, LC has taken another step in making campus safer and healthier by providing students access to Narcan.
About the Author
