Kane County Narcan program reaches training milestone

The Kane County Health Department's Narcan training program recently passed a milestone by having over 1,000 officers in Kane County trained in the administration of Naloxone.

The health department launched its first Train the Trainer class on Narcan administration in July 2014, by training 29 officers from 16 agencies in the nasal delivery system.

Since then, there has been more than 115 trainings from 23 agencies, including three colleges in Kane County, trained on the nasal and Evzio Auto-Injector delivery systems. The health department has since trained a total 1,008 officers.

"The health department is committed to continue to reach out and provide training to partner agencies," said Executive Director Barbara Jeffers. "We take pride in teaching officers from all the departments on the administration of Narcan and how to train their fellow officers."

Within the first year of the launch of the program there were 7 lives saved by police officers. Since then there have been a total of 26 lives saved in Kane County by police officers responding to the scene of an overdose and administering Narcan.

Agencies participating in the trainings to date include: Algonquin, Batavia, Campton Hills, Carpentersville, East Dundee, Elburn, Elgin, Geneva, Gilberts, Hampshire, Hoffman Estates, Huntley, North Aurora, Oswego, Sleepy Hollow, South Elgin, St. Charles, and West Dundee police departments, as well as the Kane County Forest Preserve District police and Kane County Sheriff's officers. Campus safety staff at Aurora University, Waubonsee Community College and Elgin Community College also have been trained.

Naloxone, marketed under the trade name Narcan, is a medication used to counter the effects of an overdose. Naloxone is safe and effective and has no effect on non-opioid overdoses.