Fentanyl Victims Network of North Carolina
Stronger Together! Grassroots campaign against illicit fentanyl in NC IRS recognized 501(c)(3) non-profit public charity EIN: 88-3921380
Fentvic is tracking policy for Naloxone in schools across the state. To make the policies easier to find, a table has been added to this page. Harnett County Schools has been added to the table.
If you have information on a county not recorded in the table, please share the URL with us by sending it to naloxone@fentvic.org.
Fentvic is tracking policy for Naloxone in schools across the state. To make the policies easier to find, a table has been added to this page. Wake County Schools has been added to the table.
If you have information on a county not recorded in the table, please share the URL with us by sending it to naloxone@fentvic.org.
Watch the video and read the article on the WRAL TV5 News website.
Naloxone is now widely carried by first responders and police. Distribution efforts have also helped make the medication available to community partners.
Naloxone has quickly become a central part of harm reduction efforts nationally and within North Carolina.
The medication comes in two main forms: an injection and nasal spray. Both work to save lives by reversing the effects of an opioid overdose.
Naloxone is now widely carried by first responders and police. Distribution efforts have also helped make the medication available to community partners.
“Harm reduction is the first line of defense we have. It is the on the ground, in the community response. It is by people with lived experience for people with lived experience,” shared Elyse Powell, executive director of the North Carolina Harm Reduction Coalition.
Efforts to bring naloxone into school systems are also expanding, including in Wake County Schools. School officials tell WRAL News training efforts are underway to prepare for the distribution of the medication to schools this year.
Continue reading “Naloxone distribution efforts help fight opioid crisis in NC”Read the original article on the News & Observer website (may be behind a pay wall).
Lindsey Humphreys has been recovering from opioid addiction for the last five years, she said.
She’s known people in Wake County who have died from opioids because they didn’t have access to naloxone, a life-saving drug that reverses the effects of opioid overdose.
“I decided to be part of the solution and just started to distribute this,” she said. “I have been doing it for the last couple of years in the memory of some of my friends who passed.”
Humphreys is the executive director of Illuminate NC, an organization that helps distribute naloxone in Wake and Vance counties. Illuminate distributes about 300 naloxone units a month, she said.
Continue reading “Wake County to take fight against opioid addiction and overdoses to the streets”Join Jeremy Kelsay, the founder of “Every 11 Minutes,” as he appears on Dr. Phil Primetime’s Morning on Merritt Street to address the growing fentanyl crisis. Discover shocking new statistics revealing a death every 5 minutes due to this crisis. Dive into conversations about innovative harm reduction strategies to tackle opioid addiction and find sustainable solutions. Tune in for crucial insights and discussions on combating this urgent issue.
School leaders say they’re hoping to have this in place for the 2024-25 academic year. It’s a decision that comes after the community expressed the need for more school resources following a rise in opioid deaths in Forsyth County.
WINSTON-SALEM, N.C. —
Winston-Salem/Forsyth County school board members voted unanimously to bring Narcan to the classrooms. School leaders say they’re hoping to have this in place for the 2024-25 academic year. It’s a decision that comes after the community expressed the need for more school resources following a rise in opioid deaths in Forsyth County.
Annie Vasquez, a substance use health educator came to Tuesday’s night’s board meeting in hopes the Narcan proposal would pass.
“When I was 17, I started using heroin. I’m very lucky that I did not overdose at the school system. We did not have Narcan when I was in active addiction, so it’s a very different, just, area,” Vasquez said.
As a mother and 20 years clean herself, Vasquez says this decision is a breath of fresh air.
According to data from Forsyth County Behavioral Health Services, as of Monday, there have been 17 overdose deaths so far this year. EMS has responded to more than 700 overdose-related calls.
A total of 1,583 cases were reported last year. That would mean that through Memorial Day, overdose calls in the county could increase by 11% from 2023 to 2024.
Andrea Scales is also sitting in for that vote on Tuesday. Her son, Jeremiah, died in June 2022 after unknowingly consuming fentanyl. She says this vote is a win for both of them.
“Sitting in that room today, I carried him in here with me,” Scales said. “And we were both rooting for this policy to pass, and knowing that it has for the upcoming school year is amazing, it’s remarkable, and it needed to take place. And I’m so glad this is going to save lives.”
According to the draft policy, the Forsyth County Health Department will supply Narcan to schools for free. It will also offer annual training to teachers and staff on how to administer it and where it is to be stored.
According to the policy, Narcan isn’t required to be available for activities off school grounds, like field trips or athletic events.
Read the article and watch the video on the WXII News 12 website.
Winston-Salem/Forsyth County Schools officials are considering placing the opioid overdose-reversing drug Naloxone, also known as Narcan, in all of its schools. That’s something Barbara Walsh of Davidson County would like to see happen statewide. She lost her daughter, Sophia, to an accidental overdose.
Wake Forest University student Marc Isabella spoke to Walsh about her advocacy through the nonprofit she started, Fentanyl Victims Network of North Carolina.
“I did not know how to spell fentanyl when my daughter died, but it appears to me that the focus is on the numbers. And the numbers just really don’t mean much until you put faces to them. That’s what the goal is. I am finding families every day who have lost someone to fentanyl. They typically feel very alone, thinking their child was the only one who has died this way. But that’s not true.”
“In North Carolina, I would like to see Naloxone in all 100 counties. That’s the easiest way to save a life. We think all the schools should have it just in case a student does something… If they have Naloxone on school premises and somebody goes down and has a fentanyl emergency in the bathroom, they can save her life. And if they don’t have a fentanyl emergency, and they still administer Naloxone, nothing happens. They’re safe.”
“I would say that there are many preconceived notions. Nobody spends any time to figure out who that person is, and how fentanyl got into their body… Education about the danger of fentanyl is critical.”
“That’s a great question. Mecklenburg County just approved Naloxone in its schools in January. Rural Harnett County just approved it in December, to have it in all schools and on the school buses. You have some counties in eastern North Carolina, which are all rural, they have school policies to have it in the district. Every school in the district has Naloxone. So it’s kind of a crapshoot.”
Read the article and listen to the interview on the WFDD website.
WILMINGTON, N.C. (WECT) – Rapper 22Jax wants to give a voice to families who have lost loved ones because of fentanyl and spread awareness about the drug.
On Sunday in Legion Stadium, rapper Alexander Whittington, also known as “22Jax,” held a music video shoot and fundraising event for fentanyl awareness.
“The main purpose of this event is to inspire more people to speak up that felt as though they lost their voice or felt that the memory of their loved ones are lost,” said 22Jax.
The music video shoot is for 22Jax’s new song “For Y’all” featuring musician LadyDice. The song was released earlier this month, and 40% of the song’s proceeds will go to organizations helping raise fentanyl awareness.
22Jax says it is more than just addiction and overdoses. “The insane thing is, all these things are happening and no one is doing anything, so I decided to use my platform to reach the youth and grab all of these organizations,” said 22Jax.
“It wasn’t until I really got involved with the song that I was really educated. The numbers and the statistics, it’s out of this world. I just feel like people need to know more and I am just trying to forward the education that I have received and try to save some lives,” said LadyDice.
Michiko’s Voice is a non-profit based out of Johnson County and is one of the organizations that will receive proceeds from For Y’all. Kamaya Duff lost her 23-year-old sister Michiko, who died from fentanyl poisoning.
Duff says her sister unknowingly took 29mg of fentanyl.
“When my sister passed we were lost, it took us 15-18 months to get her toxicology back,” said Duff.
Many families in attendance at the music video and fundraiser event say they waited months before finding out the cause of death of their loved ones. They say it’s a healing experience to be around other people who have experienced similar pain.
“There is no stigma, it can happen to anyone, first-time users, non-users, addicts. It can happen to anyone,” said Duff. “It can be any adult or child it happens to the innocent and the non-innocent,” she added.
The event also had free Naloxone and training to help prevent fentanyl poisoning and save lives. 22Jax says he appreciates the community support and hopes to keep spreading fentanyl awareness across the state and country.
“It’s overwhelming, I didn’t think the turnout would be so well,” said 22Jax.
Read the article on the WECT News 6 website.
Wake County schools could soon be stocked with Naloxone to treat potential opioid overdoses on campus.
The school board’s policy committee recommended on Tuesday new rules on emergency use of Naloxone. The policy requires schools to train people in how to administer Naloxone and directs Superintendent Robert Taylor to develop a program to place Naloxone at schools, early learning centers and district administrative offices.
“This is fantastic,” said school board member Sam Hershey. “This warms my heart we’re going in this direction. I think it’s crucial. At some point it’s going to hit, and we’ve got to be as ready as we can be.”
Continue reading “How Wake schools aim to ‘be as ready as we can be’ when opioid overdoses happen”Small purple boxes have become a promising tool in Wilson County’s fight to lessen the deadly toll of the opioid epidemic.
ONEbox is a first aid-like kit that contains doses of naloxone, a nasal spray that can rapidly reverse the effects of opioid overdose. When the kit is opened, a screen embedded in the lid plays a video of a paramedic giving step-by-step instructions for administering the drug.
“Let’s take a deep breath,” says the woman in the video, speaking in either English or Spanish, depending on the language selected. “Step No. 1 is to check to see if somebody really is unresponsive. You can do that by gently shaking them or shouting, or you can use your knuckles against the sternum to see if you get a reaction.”
Dozens of the kits have been placed in strategic locations throughout Wilson County in recent weeks. Jeff Hill, executive director of the Wilson County Substance Prevention Coalition, said he wants the boxes to become so ubiquitous that “any layman will know what it is, know how to identify it and know how to use it.”
“At the end of the day, we understand that anybody in the right place, right time and right scenario can become, or needs to become, a first responder,” he said. “Wherever I can’t be, a ONEbox can — and that could be the difference between life and death.”
Hill first encountered ONEbox at a conference last year in Washington, D.C. Impressed with the kit’s lifesaving potential, he brought back a sample to show county officials.
“My initial reaction was, ‘Wow, it is so compact and it gives you everything that you need — all the tools that you need — to help save a life,’” said Lori Winstead, deputy manager for Wilson County. “With this system, you kind of avoid that fear of not knowing what step comes next. It puts you at ease, and that’s important in an emergency situation.”
At the time, Winstead was working on a spending plan for Wilson County’s first tranche of funding from a landmark settlement with the pharmaceutical companies that stoked the national opioid epidemic. Money from the settlement, which brings $7.5 million to the county over the next 18 years, can only be spent on services and strategies that address the crisis.
ONEbox fit the bill. In April 2023, the Wilson County Board of Commissioners agreed to buy 200 kits for $40,000. Hill’s coalition received the kits in February and began distributing them to local nonprofits, government agencies and businesses such as Casita Brewing Co. and Thomas Drug Store.
He said the demand was “greater than we expected.” The coalition ran through its initial supply within three weeks, prompting the county to order another shipment of 200 kits.
“I think it caught on so fast because the community bought into being a resource,” said Hill, adding that Wilson is the first county to deploy the kits in North Carolina. “Our quote here in Wilson County is ‘we’re a community of first responders, not a community dependent on them.’”
Unlike many of the state’s rural counties, Wilson has seen a decrease in fatal overdoses. The latest available data from the N.C. Department of Health and Human Services shows that Wilson County had 30 overdose deaths in 2022, down from 37 deaths a year earlier.
The use of naloxone rose over the same period. The Wilson Times reported that local paramedics administered naloxone to 105 patients in 2022, a 34 percent increase from the previous year. That number does not include doses administered by other public safety agencies and civilians.
Hill said the kits are part of a larger effort to improve community access to lifesaving interventions. He noted that Wilson County’s Board of Education approved a policy last May requiring every school in the district to keep a supply of naloxone.
“That’s very rare because most people would view that as, ‘Oh, no, we have a drug problem,’” he said. “That’s not what our school system is saying. What they’re saying is the same way we have an AED and a first aid kit on site, God forbid, in case of emergency, we want to make sure that we have naloxone to protect the sanctity […] and the livelihood of our students.”
Another example, he said, is Wilson Professional Services, a local medication-assisted addiction treatment center that offers free naloxone to anyone who requests it. The facility also provides training so people know how to properly administer the drug.
Naloxone has been readily available for years at community hubs like the Wilson County Public Library, where a staff member used it to save the life of a man who overdosed in 2022.
The county’s swift adoption of ONEbox has not gone unnoticed by the kits’ distributor, the West Virginia Drug Intervention Institute.
“Wilson has certainly been one of the more comprehensive approaches that we’ve seen,” said Susan Bissett, president of the institute. “They’re using the libraries. They have them in bars and restaurants. They’re working with the schools and the local higher education facilities.”
Bissett traveled to Wilson County with a film crew last month to record testimonials from local leaders. The recordings, she said, are meant to show other communities how to successfully implement the kits.
“To see another Appalachian community embrace this has been incredible,” she said. “The fact that it is a more rural community — and how they’re making sure that boxes are in locations strategically placed throughout the community so that bystanders can respond — is incredible.”
Her comments were echoed by Joe Murphy, creator of ONEbox. Murphy said he came up with the idea after seeing his small West Virginia hometown “ravaged by drugs.”
“The way that every single organization we’ve talked to in this community has embraced it, from law enforcement to the public sector, is unbelievable,” he said. “You just don’t see this anywhere in the country.”
Hill believes Wilson County could be a bellwether for other communities in North Carolina. He said officials from neighboring counties have already expressed interest in deploying ONEbox kits based on the successful rollout in Wilson.
“The goal is to create a model that can be replicated,” he said.
This article first appeared on North Carolina Health News and is republished here under a Creative Commons license.