Narcan available inside AED cabinets around University of Arizona main campus

TUCSON, Ariz. (KGUN) — This fall, the University of Arizona (U of A) added naloxone, or Narcan, to AED cabinets around the main campus.

"AED" stands for automatic external defibrillator, a device that's used to help save lives during a sudden cardiac arrest.

The U of A's student-led group, Team Awareness Combatting Overdose (TACO), made these efforts possible with other campus organizations' help. TACO offers scientifically-backed community drug education and harm reduction resources.

U of A student and president of TACO, Nicholas Ward and assistant research professor, Dr. Bridget Murphy, say Narcan is available on the main campus and is expanding to other University-affiliated locations.

“It's great to see that the work that we're doing has kind of had a broader impact on our campus to keep people safe, and regardless of the decisions they make regarding substance use or what they're ingesting in their body," said Ward. "They deserve a good chance at life and to stay safe.”

Ward says they chose to put Narcan inside AEDs because of other lifesaving resources inside of them.

"So we have the defibrillators, we have to stop the bleed kits and then might as well throw a Narcan in there too since that's a resource that could save someone's life," said Ward.

The Arizona Department of Health Services says every day over five people die from opioid overdoses in Arizona. Their data also shows 724 confirmed opioid deaths so far this year.

Narcan can quickly reverse an overdose by restoring breathing and consciousness. Dr. Murphy says administering Narcan is simple.

"If you can use a nasal spray, you can use naloxone," Dr. Murphy said. "What's really important too is to remember that to get the person to emergency responders is really important, but also to take care of your own self and well-being.”

Ward shares his three big signs of an overdose.

"So the first is gonna be pinpoint pupils. So, if the person is experiencing an overdose and you open their eye and you see a super pinpoint pupil, it's kind of like if you took a pencil and put a dot on a paper. That's one sign. The second one is going to be slowness or shortness of breath," described Ward. "Then there's a few ways you can tell that so you can look for the rise and fall of the chest you could put, potentially, a reflective material under their nose and see if it's fogging up on exhale with the breathing, and then just if you listen to there might be like no breathing or there might be choking a little bit too just from the overdose. And then the last one is if they're unresponsive so you can try first, kind of, shaking the person."

There are about 250-300 doses of Narcan around campus with two doses per AED cabinet. All AED cabinets can be found using the U of A's campus map, which can be found here.

More opioid prevention resources are here.

University of Arizona