Marie Rawls, an Arizona State University student with her sights set on nursing, made headlines when she saved two teenagers from a potentially fatal overdose using NARCAN, a medication designed to rapidly reverse opioid overdose. Her decision to step in during a critical moment at a local party underscores a wider conversation about the access to and education on life-saving interventions like NARCAN.
Last week, in a chilling close call, the presence of mind and medical training of one individual thwarted a statistic from ticking up, these teens were on the brink of being two more casualties in Arizona’s opioid battleground, where even individuals as young as 17 are losing their lives to this unyielding epidemic, according to FOX 10 Phoenix. Rawls, who had completed NARCAN training through Terros, a health organization working in tandem with Arizona’s efforts in overdose prevention, acted swiftly upon recognizing signs of overdose, remembering the potentially life-saving drug she had in her car, a reminder of her training and the seriousness of the opioid issue faced by many communities.
While the Arizona Department of Health Services has been reticent in releasing specific data on opioid overdoses due to privacy concerns, their reporting system uses ICD-10 codes to categorize opioid-related deaths with stringent criteria to protect individuals’ identity. In instances where data is less than 10 counts, the information is not publicly disclosed, a policy that highlights the complexities and challenges of monitoring an epidemic that continues to operate, to some extent, in the shadows.
Amidst rising fentanyl seizures and the grim distinction of being second in the nation for such incidents, Public Instruction Superintendent Tom Horne emphasized the critical role of education, as he stated, “The best thing is if they go to a place like Terros, as Marie did, get training on how to use the NARCAN, get NARCAN to have available, so you can have other lives saved, which I think would be terrific,” in an interview with FOX 10 Phoenix. Indeed, the state advocates for individuals, especially young ones, to be armed with knowledge and the means to counteract the overdose tide, as evidenced by Rawls’ swift action which undeniably saved lives.