Students receive NARCAN training
Russell Sage College nursing students learn about overdose antidote
TROY, N.Y. » Twenty senior year nursing students from Russell Sage College were trained Thursday afternoon to recognize the warning signs of an opioid overdose, and to administer naloxone, a medication used to treat an overdose.
The training was led by Kelsey Sargood, public health educator at the Rensselaer County Department of Health, along with Olivia Mogan, a trainer with the county’s department of health.
The Sage Colleges, which has a campus in Albany and downtown Troy, requires its nursing students to complete naloxone — which is sold under multiple brand names, including NARCAN — training, even though the training is not a New York State requirement.
According to Nursing Professor and Chair of the Nursing Department at The Sage Colleges
Glenda Kelman, Sage includes this training in its curriculum since they believe opioid overdose is a public health threat and that Safe students and graduates could play a role in preventing death by overdose.
Kelman said the college has hosted these trainings since 2016 and that the college has trained more than 200 nurses and the entire nursing faculty.
“It is truly an epidemic,” said Kelman. “We used to think it wasn’t here, but it’s here and it affects people of all ages.”
Sargood said that her department will do several trainings each month throughout the community including at various local senior centers. The department also offers a training every month at the county health department, along with one every month at St. Mary’s Hospital.
“This is an epidemic in our county,” said Sargood. “The numbers are still up higher than they were last year, so we just figured the more kits we can get in people’s hands, the more we can do our part in trying to save lives.”
Students who took part in the training received a kit, which included two doses of NARCAN-brand naloxone nasal spray, a face mask for rescue masking, directions of administering NARCAN, information to obtain refills and drug treatment/ coun- seling resources.
“I feel like with how bad the epidemic is, there is a really good chance when I’m at home or even when I’m [at college], there’s a good chance that we might actually have to use it,” said Julia Corentto of Gansevoort.