There have been more than 20 heroin overdoses in our region in the past two weeks. Officials are calling it an epidemic and Governor Wolf says this fight is a top priority.
“In the bigger cities I always knew it was a problem, but I never thought a small town, a Cambria County town, would be affected as largely as it is with this drug problem.” The drug epidemic in our region continues to grow and Central Cambria senior Brody Lawrence is realizing that after he researched most of the details for the high school’s “Save a Heart Week.”
“It’s kind of scary to think that type of stuff is real and in our schools,” says junior Emma Wess.
This week, the students heard from a recovering addict and learned about the costs and consequences associated with drugs. The event was planned before a recent outbreak of heroin overdoses.
“We put these programs on for a reason. It’s a very big issue going on in the whole country,” Officer Nathan Stohon says.
Officer Stohon, the school resource officer, says he has seen the drug problem get worse over the course of his 14 years as a police officer. He’s not surprised that Governor Wolf now wants to implement a program that will provide public high schools with Narcan, “Unfortunately it has gotten that bad. We may not need it up here, but there are some other districts and some other places in the state that are going to have to use that eventually.”
It is surprising to some of the students like Lawrence, “You never think that a high school student would be into the that type of drug.”
Narcan, which can reverse the effects of a heroin overdose, will be provided to school nurses. Medical staff within the school will be trained to use the medication to potentially help save a life.
Pennsylvania is the first state to implement this program. A representative from the Department of Drug and Alcohol Programs says that in rural areas, much like our region, it can be difficult for first responders to reach patients quickly, so they hope by putting this medication in the school districts they can prevent any unnecessary deaths.