Greek life chapters take action in overdose prevention, intervention training
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When Grace Newell became chair of Syracuse University’s Kappa Alpha Theta sorority committee for diversity, equity and inclusion, she wanted to implement meaningful, instead of just performative, change. This year, that meant holding a Narcan training with the help of educators from the Barnes Center at The Arch.
Kappa Alpha Theta held the training on Oct. 15 to teach members how to use Narcan, the brand name of naloxone, which can reverse the effects of an overdose. Newell said the training helped members feel confident and empowered to implement drug safety on and around campus.
“Social Greek life has its dangers when it comes to just making sure that we are being safe with substances, alcohol and opioids and everything, so taking the steps to just instill some competence was a huge DEI priority because that’s accessibility, that’s inclusivity,” Newell said.
The SU chapter of the Delta Gamma sorority held a Narcan training last year. Julia McHugh, a member of Delta Gamma, said it was the first time she had Narcan training through the sorority.
Kappa Alpha Theta’s event came after multiple stores on Marshall Street were shut down for having improper licensing and selling illegal cannabis products.
Opioid-related deaths in Onondaga County have also drastically increased, with fentanyl deaths in the county more than doubling from 2019 to 2022. The county had approximately 28 opioid overdose deaths per 100,000 people in 2022, which was the second highest out of the six counties that make up the central New York area, according to the county’s data.
Barnes’ Meredith Patterson, assistant director of public health initiatives, and Hope Michael, a health promotion specialist, conducted the training with Kappa Alpha Theta. In addition to the training, they spoke about overall substance and alcohol safety, Newell said.
The approximately 75 attendees were able to take Narcan kits home with them, and members that were unable to attend the event still received information they missed and were given access to kits, Newell said.
Keira Kapner, a sophomore member who lives in the Kappa Alpha Theta house, said there are now eight Narcan kits in the house at all times, each with two doses of naloxone. With the treatment readily available, Kapner said she feels safer living in the house than in a dorm in case she has to administer it.
“We’re in a space where everybody’s like-minded and everybody cares about each other really deeply, so if I was put in a situation where I would have to use naloxone or anything like that, I know I would be comfortable to do it here,” Kapner said.
Newell said the DEI committee wanted to organize the training to address a need for education about Narcan.
“The presence of Narcan and people’s desire to understand how to use it and get their hands on it has been kind of amplified this semester in general, whether that be with news postings or instances of people overdosing” she said.
With the available resources for substance safety education at the Barnes Center, Newell said organizing the training was easy and hopes similar trainings will become widespread.
Trisha Priyadarshi, a sophomore in Kappa Alpha Theta, said she feels equipped to address potential overdoses she encounters after going through the Narcan training.
“Going in the training itself was super helpful because I had no idea that (Narcan) was something that was available. I had no idea that you could correct an overdose at all,” Priyadarshi said.
Following a rise in overdose cases at the beginning of this year, the Onondaga County Health Department issued a statement in January identifying a link between overdoses and fentanyl-laced substances. Fentanyl is nearly impossible to detect if not tested for with test strips, according to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention.
After reporting four deaths due to fentanyl in 2012, Onondaga County reported 133 in 2022.
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Dessa Bergen-Cico, a professor in SU’s Department of Public Health and coordinator of the addiction studies program, has worked in the department of addictive behaviors for 30 years. She teaches an online course for graduate students that includes a complete Narcan video training.
Bergen-Cico was previously in Student Affairs, where she worked closely with Greek life organizations to educate students on substance abuse prevention, she said.
“I know the importance of not only training an individual, but really training a community and shifting social norms,” Bergen-Cico said. “You can really change the social norms for a social group and a community by doing a collective training, rather than doing it for just an individual.”
The Panhellenic Council frequently hosts events about alcohol and sexual safety in Greek life on campus and sends out resources and modules through which students can engage virtually in educational learning. Kapner said that while these events are helpful, the Panhellenic Council has not hosted any mandatory events on Narcan training.
Kapner said if the council put resources toward speakers for Narcan training, it would help move the burden off individual houses and to the entire Greek life community. The Panhellenic Council did not respond to The Daily Orange’s request for comment.
Sarah Marshall, a junior in Kappa Alpha Theta studying public health and addiction studies, said she’s been trained to administer Narcan through her public health classes at SU, but that Greek life trying to implement Narcan training is a newer development.
“Starting in Greek life is a really good start, because such a big portion of the student population is in Greek life,” Marshall said. “I know a lot of people in and out of Greek life who don’t even know what Narcan is.”
At a school with such a large undergraduate student population – 4,619, or 30%, of whom are involved in Greek life as of spring 2022 – Marshall said education around drug prevention should be implemented not just in Greek life but by the entire university as well.
Penelope Lee, a junior in SU’s chapter of the Gamma Phi Beta sorority, is a member of the Student Association of Public Health Education club. The club is working to distribute Narcan kits to every Greek life chapter on campus, she said.
The club plans to meet with every chapter that agrees this semester to give a video presentation and Narcan training.
“Promotion and education is just vital in this situation, and there’s no reason not to do these trainings and educate. There’s just none,” Lee said.
The Wellness Leadership Institute at the Barnes Center will host a free Narcan training session on Nov. 27 in Room 309 of the Barnes Center.
Besides the Barnes Center, there are currently three other institutions offering free Narcan training in the central New York region: United Health Services Opioid Overdose Prevention Program, Prevention Network and Southern Tier AIDS Program.
People needing to access Narcan can visit the Substance Abuse and Mental Health Services Administration website or call its hotline at (800) 662-4357 for help accessing support for drug use.
