Early this year, the state spearheaded a new program to provide the overdose reversal medication naloxone to any K-12 school that requests it. The Harwood Unified Union School District (HUUSD) school nurse team participated – expanding their supplies since initially stocking naloxone and other harm reduction tools in 2022.
Naloxone is an FDA-approved pharmaceutical – a nasal spray or injectable – best known by the brand name Narcan. When administered during an overdose, it blocks the effects of opioids in the brain and can restore breathing within several minutes. It has been used safely by medical professional for more than 40 years.
Brookside Primary School nurse Allison Conyers said she was interested in having a medication on hand that can treat an overdose without causing harm, in the case that a student, staff member or community member needs it while on school grounds. She said that naloxone is akin to an epinephrine injection or EpiPen – essentially a tool for emergency preparedness and response.
Each HUUSD school keeps the medication stocked in a locked box that contains an Automated External Defibrillator that can assist with cardiac arrest. While not accessible by students, Conyers said that students can receive a harm reduction kit – a bag containing naloxone, fentanyl test strips and other items – if they speak with a school nurse.
The state first contacted HUUSD in 2022, in gauging whether schools would be interested in having naloxone on hand, Conyers said. The nurse team expressed interest, but the state didn’t roll out the program until this year, when the state sent six boxes. In the meantime, Conyers reached out to the Vermont State Nurses Association for guidance, finding there were many other resources for naloxone distribution and obtaining about 20 harm reduction kits from community organizations.
The nurse team wrote a protocol for using the medication and participated in virtual trainings through the Vermont Department of Health (VDH).
VDH sent out about 144 naloxone kits to 130 schools and supervisory unions in 2024, according to VDH public health communication officer Ben Truman. The number of schools that stock the medication could be greater, he said, as VDH was distributing it previously via school law enforcement officers.
There have been no fatal overdoses on school grounds in the state, and no nonfatal suspected overdoses of a student in a K-12 school, according to the state.
Beyond school grounds, between 2018 and 2022, the state saw an increase of emergency department visits for unintentional nonfatal drug overdoses among 15-to 19-year-olds – especially involving over-the-counter medications.
Truman said that nationally, there has been an increase in counterfeit pills. “A friend’s Adderall or oxycontin could be counterfeit and contain fentanyl, and put a student at risk of a fatal overdose,” he said. “
The state has been distributing naloxone to first responders and communities since 2013, increasing its distribution each year. In 2023, Vermont gave out 72,712 doses – including installing the state’s first naloxone vending machine in Johnson and debuting a home delivery program that mails the medication to anyone who requests it after filling out a simple form. They estimate that spending for naloxone reached $1.49 million last year, through a combination of federal and non-taxpayer state funding. The school initiative is being supported through opioid settlement funding.
