NEWS

U of L students train on heroin antidote

Beth Warren
Louisville Courier Journal

University of Louisville students gathered this week in the community room of an off-campus apartment and business complex where one of their own died of a heroin overdose.

Donald Davis, a co-founder of the Kentucky Harm Reduction Coalition, demonstrates how to assemble the life-saving tools provided in a naloxone rescue kit when attempting to reverse a heroin overdose.

They wanted to learn more about the drug crisis as well as what role they could play to help their friends and classmates. They left armed with kits of naloxone, an easy-to-use heroin and opioid antidote.

"I just want to be prepared," said student Dominic Cinquina, 20, who plans to carry the kit in his backpack. "I'd like to be able to do something."

He didn't know cheerleader Dani Cogswell, who died in 2014 at age 22, but said he witnessed a friend in his hometown of Lexington in the grip of addiction.

"There was one point he looked at us and his eyes were rolling back in his head," he said. "It was very scary."

Cinquina said he helped stage an intervention in August.

"It was rough," Cinquina said. But he decided, "I'd rather have him hate me and never talk to me again than not be alive."

A CPR dummy is used to illustrate how an injection of naloxone can be administered through the nasal passage when trying to revive a heroin overdose.

The student is among those who received training this week on using Narcan, a name brand of naloxone, by Kentucky Harm Reduction Coalition.

"I want you to be vocal and observant," Russ Reid, a coalition founding member, told about three dozen students gathered at The Avenue on Cardinal Boulevard.

"You'll be able to take action, bring that person back to life and hopefully into treatment."

Metro Councilman David James – formerly head of U of L's police force – said he suggested the meeting, which included a panel discussion with experts, after learning of a high concentration of heroin overdose runs to the area last year. He said school police recently received naloxone training.

He and others encouraged students to call for help if they fear a friend might overdose – even if they too were abusing drugs.

"Don't leave them," Reid said. "No one can get arrested if you are honest with the first responders.

"Treat them like a cancer patient, like they have diabetes – like a patient with a disease."

Louisville Metro Police Sgt. Tom Schardein explained the Commonwealth's Good Samaritan law.

Sgt. Tom Schardein of the LMPD narcotics division discusses the grim nature of seeing the heroin problem on the front lines and the truth behind the statistics during a panel discussion on Wednesday night at The Avenue on the U of L campus.

"You're gonna be surprised to hear this from a cop, but we don't want to know who you are," said the sergeant, with the Major Case Division. "We just want them to be safe."

Schardein told the students about cases where overdose victims had been abandoned, including a man rolled out of a car outside the entrance of a hospital emergency room by his 22-year-old girlfriend.

The sergeant saw the incident and rushed to catch up with the car. "It wasn't that she didn't love him," he said. "She was just scared."

The naloxone training, organized by several student groups, was part of several events scheduled for National Public Health Week.

Matthew Murphy, with Louisville's chapter of Young People in Recovery, said the grassroots advocacy group offers peer support and can point students to area treatment options.

Schardein encouraged the students to be persistent in steering friends to recovery.

"Don't give up on them," he said.

Beth Warren can be reached at 502-582-7164 or at bwarren@courier-journal.com.

A panel featuring (left to right) Sgt. Tom Schardein of LMPD Narcotics, Matt Murphy of YPR, Louisville Councilman David James, and Russ Reed of the Kentucky Harm Reduction Coalition addressed the rise of heroin overdoses in the community on Wednesday night with U of L students.