Camden County is installing Narcan kits in 150 South Jersey schools

Every school in Camden County will soon be equipped with Narcan kits in case a student needs the potentially lifesaving treatment after a suspected fentanyl overdose.

County Commissioner Louis Cappelli Jr. unveiled a program Thursday to put the kits in about 150 buildings — every public and parochial school in the county.

“We hope it’s never needed in schools,” Cappelli said at a news conference at Highland Regional High School in Blackwood. “But if it is, we’ll be very happy it was there.”

The first kit of naloxone, the generic name for Narcan that can reverse an overdose from opioids, including heroin, fentanyl, and prescription opioid medications, was put in Highland’s library. An additional 275 kits, secured metal boxes that hold four doses, will be installed in schools around the county by Oct. 31, Cappelli said.

Jordai Kimbrough, 18, a senior at Highland, said the kits were a good idea, and it was important for the school to acknowledge there’s a growing problem: The spread of fentanyl in illicit drugs has pushed fatal overdoses to record highs in the United States.

“Young teens are very impressionable,” said Kimbrough, an aspiring lawyer. “They don’t know what they’re taking.”

Highland has provided Narcan to its school nurse and resource officer since 2017, said Brian Repici, Black Horse Pike regional superintendent. It will now be more readily available in the school, which has about 1,200 students.

Repici and other officials, including school nurse Jacqueline Keehn, welcomed the new program, saying schools must be prepared for any type of emergency. Some compared the kits to having a defibrillator in the event of a cardiac emergency.

About two weeks ago, Narcan was administered to a student with respiratory problems, which can mimic an overdose, Repici said. An overdose was later ruled out.

In January, a 12-year-old boy was found unresponsive on a school bus at nearby Gloucester Township Elementary School. A school nurse performed CPR until emergency responders and police arrived with Narcan.

The boy was taken to a local hospital and later died Feb. 1. An autopsy by the Philadelphia Medical Examiner determined the cause of death was drug intoxication from fentanyl.

In March, authorities charged the boy’s uncle, Troy Nokes, 35, of Blackwood, with aggravated manslaughter. Authorities allege that a week before the child’s death, Nokes manufactured fentanyl in the home where the child resided. Nokes was charged with directing the child to clean paraphernalia that contained fentanyl. Witnesses told authorities the child was not wearing gloves.

Cappelli said the county was providing schools with the kits in response to the boy’s death and other cases in the growing opioid crisis that has claimed more than 300 lives in the county this year. County Prosecutor Grace MacAulay called the boxes part of “an all-hands-on-deck approach” to combat the crisis.

A cheap synthetic opioid, fentanyl is 50 times as lethal as heroin.

“This is a public health emergency,” said Paschal Nwako, the county health officer. “The issue here is saving lives.”

The kits are worth more than $30,000, which will be allocated through the county Office of Mental Health and Addiction, but is being distributed at no cost under a partnership with the state Department of Health, the Camden County Prosecutor’s Office and local police departments.

In November, Camden County schools staff and students will get overdose response training to learn how to administer Narcan.

Each school will be responsible for monitoring the usage and expiration dates of the kits, and school officials can contact their local police chief to replenish their supply.

Elia Hopkins, a peer recovery specialist for the Center for Family Services, recalled the first time she administered Narcan about seven years ago to save a man she found lying in the streets in Camden.

Hopkins, a mother of three who has been sober for seven years, said she immediately suspected a possible overdose. She rushed to her car and retrieved Narcan, she said.

Hopkins, 38, of Camden, said she keeps Narcan handy in her purse because she never knows when she will be faced with someone in a fentanyl medical crisis.

“It’s scary,” she said.