Ohio Valley Times

WVNCC Participates in Statewide Initiative Providing Lifesaving Measures on Campus

West Virginia Northern Community College is participating in an overdose prevention initiative, created for West Virginia college and university campuses, entitled, “Be The One.” The initiative is the first of its kind and will focus on opioid overdose prevention from a bystander’s perspective, encouraging students, staff, and faculty to Be The One to save a life. 

A project of the initiative includes the distribution and installation of the ONEbox.™ The ONEbox™ is an on-demand, one-of-a-kind, technology-enabled opioid overdose rescue response kit that contains two doses of opioid reversal medication, and naloxone. The box also contains instantaneous video instructions that are activated when ONEbox™ is opened. This video talks the responder through the overdose emergency and administration of naloxone. A training mode is also available for use during a non-emergency.

The college will have four kits on their Wheeling Campus and one each on its New Martinsville and Weirton Campus. Kits for the WVNCC Campuses were distributed by WVNCC Education and Human Services Program Director Kathy Herrington and WVNCC Resource Officer RJ Faldowski. 

“I’m proud that our campus has always been on the forefront of solutions to the opioid crisis our region has faced, especially when we established our substance abuse programs,” commented WVNCC President Dr. Daniel Mosser. “We are excited to participate in the Be the One initiative and provide additional prevention and education to our community.” 

The Be The One Initiative was created by the West Virginia Collegiate Recovery Program (WVCRN) and the West Virginia Drug Intervention Institute (WV DII), with the goal of increasing prevention and recovery efforts on West Virginia campuses, educating individuals in medication safety, and training them how to properly respond to an overdose. The ONEbox was created by Murphy Media, Inc. and is managed by the West Virginia Drug Intervention Institute, Inc.

“We believe naloxone should be easily accessible everywhere and through our partnerships with WVDII, colleges and universities around the state we are decreasing stigma and providing vital resources to help save lives,” explained Susie Mullens, director of the WVCRN.

As someone who worked on college campuses for 25 years, and responded to campus overdose, Dr. Susan Bissett, president of the WV DII believes that this initiative is much needed. “College campuses are representative of the communities in which they are housed; and they are often the hub for activity in their town,” said Dr. Bissett. “Our campus buildings have AEDs, first aid kits and fire extinguishers and so the ONEbox™ is just one more way to keep our campuses, our students and our communities safe.” 

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