Central State University produces and distributes short NARCAN public service announcement

Central State University’s Division of Institutional Advancement — responsible for the Institution’s public/media relations, internal communication, marketing, and branding concerns — this month produced a five-minute instructional video about the use of NARCAN nasal spray as a free public safety service for students and area community members. 

NARCAN is the brand name for the generic FDA-approved medicinal drug Naloxone. Once administered, NARCAN may reawaken a person incapacitated by opioid overdose and restart breathing if it has stopped. 

With the opioid epidemic throughout the nation and Ohio in particular at staggering levels, Central State’s Health Center and Police Department have worked closely with local law enforcement, clinicians, Counseling Services, medical facilities, and the fire department to supply the campus with ample NARCAN spray kits and instruction as needed. 

It is Central State’s goal that students especially will take note of the free NARCAN kits distributed around the school proximity and that all members of the local community will do what they can to keep NARCAN close by, be it in their cars, handbags, backpacks, offices, and homes when possible.  

NARCAN is an effective tool in bringing someone suffering from opioid overdose back to life and once administered will not be harmful to the person in any way (including if they turn out to have not been suffering from an overdose).

There is no risk of addiction to NARCAN and it does not have any stimulating or mind-altering effects. A person administering NARCAN cannot overuse the spray. 

In order to aid those using NARCAN in better understanding the ease of administering it and ensuring NARCAN is de-stigmatized for those who may be worried about being seen asking for, carrying, or using NARCAN for fear of being seen as associated with drug use, the five-minute PSA produced by the Division of Institutional Advancement is now available online and will be screened at a variety of campus and regional events. 

The video was produced, co-directed, and written by the Division of Institutional Advancement’s University writer Mathew Klickstein with assistance from the school’s TV studio production manager Stanley Jefferson who acted as co-director, camera operator, and editor.  

Expert testimony about NARCAN is provided by featured speakers CSU Chief of Police Stephanie Hill, Sgt. Jose Jolliffe-Haas, and CSU Health Center nurse practitioner Connie Helmuth. Central State’s Title III Theatre Program, as supervised by program director and instructor John Fleming, provided talent for a dramatization based on a story involving NARCAN as recounted by Jolliffe-Haas. 

“It is our hope that this short video explaining how to use and the value of NARCAN will teach students, faculty, campus staff, and local community members how they too can potentially save a life through what is a very simple and safe new tool in the fight against the opioid epidemic,” Klickstein said.  

The video can be seen below. Please share and post to your network, and if you have any further questions about NARCAN, please speak with your local law enforcement and medical facilities as needed.