UW-Eau Claire holds Narcan education training for staff and students

EAU CLAIRE, Wis. (WEAU) - The Health Department says there were 21 overdose deaths in Eau Claire County in 2022. And so far in 2023 there have been 80 non-fatal opioid overdoses.

On Thursday, 50 students and staff from UW-Eau Claire learned more what an overdose looks like and what options they have to help.

“We are seeing more fatal and non-fatal overdoses that are happening specifically around Fentanyl. So we want to share more information to any community member. Today we are focusing on the university just to share that awareness and then hopefully they can spread that awareness and share it with other community members as well”, said Sarah Dillivan-Pospisil, a Public Health Specialist from Eau Claire City-County Health Department.

The presentation centered around Narcan, a medicine that’s used to reverse an opioid overdose as well as Fetanyl test strips. 18 Naloxone boxes are located throughout the campus that provide these life saving tools.

“The initial charge came from some UW-Milwaukee students who passed away from opioid overdoses. So then it became an initiative that all the UW system schools took on to get these Narcan dispenser boxes onto their campuses so that people had access to to them, whether they want to have them just on themselves, whether they want to give them to a friend or if they need to be used in an emergency situation.”, said UW-EC Health Educator, Christy Prust.

They say the main reason for the presentation is to educate and save lives.

“How to use Narcan has the potential to save a person’s life and get them to a spot where they can continue to live until they want to seek treatment for whatever opioid use that they are experiencing”, said Prust.

“We just want more community members to know what resources are available within the community. If it’s access to narcan, if it’s fentanyl test strips, or what additional resources for treatment options are available”, said Dillivan-Pospisil.

Naloxone boxes are located in all of the residence halls and high traffic buildings on campus.

Since being added... 20 narcan boxes have been removed from the naloxone boxes on campus.

There are a few other places to get narcan and fetanyl testing strips, no questions asked. For more information on where to find those you can head the EC Health Alliance website.

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