Fort Worth university starts giving out Narcan to help prevent opioid overdose deaths
Officials with the University of North Texas Health Science Center began distributing Narcan and training students on how to use it on Tuesday.
The university will hand out about 9,000 doses of Narcan, the brand name for Naloxone, and has started training students, employees and community members to administer the medication that can reverse an opioid overdose.
The project was launched at an event Tuesday morning. Alan Stucky, UNT System vice chancellor and general counsel, who lost a son to the opioid epidemic, was present for the announcement, according to a news release from the university.
Stucky’s son, Holden, 24, died from an opioid overdose on his mother’s birthday in 2017. Holden Stucky, a University of North Texas philosophy student, was prescribed oxycodone after he shattered his arm while riding his longboard and became addicted.
“We live with the loss of Holden every day,” Alan Stucky said in the release. “But we also live with the fear that someone else’s loved one could overdose, and I won’t have the means to save them. We’re determined not to let that happen.”
UNTHSC received Narcan through More Narcan Please, a state opioid response grant administered by UT Health San Antonio School of Nursing. The drug is applied nasally.
Perrone Pharmacy and Thrive Pharmacy Solutions have partnered with UNTHSC to distribute the medication, the release said. A standing order in Texas allows anyone to walk into a pharmacy and buy Narcan without a prescription. The U.S. surgeon general has called for heightened awareness and availability of the medication.
“Anyone can save a life with Narcan,” said Dr. Michael Williams, UNTHSC president, in the news release. “The providers of the future training at UNT Health Science Center will lead the way in teaching people how this life-saving drug can prevent overdose deaths. Protecting our community from this epidemic is our responsibility as a health care leader in Fort Worth.”
Every day, more than 130 people in the United States die after overdosing on opioids. While the overdose rate in Texas is below the national average, nearly 1,500 Texans still died from opioid-related overdoses in 2017, according to the National Institute on Drug Abuse.
Also present for the announcement of the distribution program were David Mansdoerfer, UNTHSC special assistant to the president and former U.S. deputy assistant secretary for health; UNTHSC President Dr. Michael R. Williams; and Rear Admiral Sylvia Trent-Adams, principal deputy assistant U.S. secretary for health.
This story was originally published January 28, 2020 at 2:07 PM.
