The Richmond Board of Education will consider whether opioid overdose-reversing kits and defibrillators are needed in schools.
Board chair Debbie Tablotney will bring up the subject at this week’s meeting, asking the superintendent to do a “feasibility study” on whether automated external defibrillators (AEDs) and naloxone kits, that can be used to reverse an opioid overdose, are needed in public schools.
The City of Richmond just approved having naloxone kits in all city buildings, including the Richmond Olympic Oval.
As of October, 20 people have died in Richmond this year of suspected drug poisonings, according to the BC Coroners Service, including four in October alone.
In 2022, 36 young people in B.C. under the age of 19 died of suspected drug poisonings, the highest number recorded since 2012.
Tablotney's 36-year-old son, Curtis, died of a toxic drug overdose one year ago.
