New River Community and Technical College is participating in an overdose prevention initiative, created for West Virginia college and university campuses, entitled, “Be The One”. The initiative is the first of its kind and will focus on opioid overdose prevention from a bystander’s perspective, encouraging students, staff, and faculty to “Be The One” to save a life.
The first project of the initiative includes the distribution and installation of 50 opioid overdose rescue kits, also known as “Naloxboxes”, on college and university campuses across the Mountain State. These kits contain two doses of the opioid reversal medication, Naloxone, and training materials instructing individuals how to administer Naloxone during an active overdose.
New River Community and Technical College received Naloxboxes on Thursday, Feb. 10, 2022. The boxes will be installed on every floor of every New River CTC building.
Be The One was created by the West Virginia Collegiate Recovery Program (WVCRN) and the West Virginia Drug Intervention Institute (WV DII), with the goal of increasing prevention and recovery efforts on West Virginia campuses, educating individuals in medication safety, and training them how to properly respond to an overdose.
“I am so grateful to WVCRN and WV DII for the funding for the Naloxboxes,” said New River CTC President Dr. Bonny Copenhaver. “As we kick-off the spring semester, we are holding naloxone training for our staff and faculty, and we can have Naloxboxes on all our campuses thanks to this program. Participating in the ‘Be the One’ initiative is a way that we can be prepared to support our students in a moment of crisis and hopefully save a life.”
“We believe naloxone should be easily accessible everywhere and through our partnerships with WVDII, colleges and universities around the state we are decreasing stigma and providing vital resources to help save lives,” explained Susie Mullens, director of the WVCRN.
As someone who worked on college campuses for 25 years, and responded to campus overdose, Dr. Susan Bissett, president of the WV DII believes that this initiative is much needed. “College campuses are representative of the communities in which they are housed; and they are often the hub for activity in their town,” said Dr. Bissett. “Our campus buildings have AEDs, first aid kits and fire extinguishers and so the Naloxbox is just one more way to keep our campuses, our students and our communities safe.”
For more information regarding New River CTC’s participation in the Be the One initiative, contact New River CTC’s Peer Recovery Support Specialist Melinda Price. For more information on the Be the One statewide initiative, contact Dr. Susan Bissett or Susie Mullens.
