Toronto District School Board high schools will soon be provided with a drug that can reverse opioid overdoses.

On Wednesday evening the board voted to move forward with equipping every secondary school with a naloxone kit, as part of TDSB’s overdose-prevention plan implemented in November 2017.

TDSB spokesperson Ryan Bird said one kit will be provided to each of the board’s 112 high schools and alternative schools.

Read more:

Fentanyl found in naloxone kit given out at pharmacy

Substance use among Ontario students down but new concerns over fentanyl emerge: report

Have your say

Mental health association urging all public venues to stock naloxone kits

Two to three staff from each school will also be trained on how to use the kit.

Bird said the training will led by the TDSB and it will begin just before March break and should be finished before the end of April.

TDSB’s initiative is in response to the City of Toronto’s action plan on the rise of overdoses.

In 2016 there were 2,861 opioid-related deaths in Canada. From January to June 2017, there were at least 1,460 suspected opioid-related deaths. “It is expected that this count will rise,” the Public Health Agency of Canada stated.

The city’s report, released in March 2017, encouraged school boards to consider having naloxone kits.

Toronto Public Health assisted TDSB on how the board could obtain naloxone kits and go about training, said Dr. Rita Shahin, TPH spokesperson and associate medical officer of heath.

Bird said TDSB members who have already been trained by TPH on how to use the kits will then teach staff at the other 112 schools. “We’re using a trainee-becomes-a-trainer model.”

Training will include instruction on how to identify signs and symptoms of an opioid overdose, and how to administer the nasal spray, and then call emergency services.

He said the board will be covering the costs for the kits, which will amount to between $16,000 and $20,000.

Bird said he is “not aware” of any suspected overdoses in TDSB schools. “This is not something we would track centrally. I’m not personally aware of anything like that.”

TPH also said they are not aware of any suspected overdoses in schools.

Loading... Loading... Loading... Loading... Loading... Loading...

Bird said the board is looking into how they educate their students about the opioid crisis, the dangers of fentanyl and how to ensure their safety when it comes to drug use, but the TDSB has not come up with any specific methods yet.

TDSB’s overdose-prevention plan was created by the board’s health and mental well-being committee for staff to have an “emergency response procedure” in the case of an overdose.

Fentanyl, a powerful opioid, has led to thousands of deaths across North America.

Since August 2017, Toronto paramedics have attended 58 non-fatal and four fatal suspected opioid overdoses per week on average. There have been a total of nine fatal suspected overdose deaths since then, according to TPH.