B.C. postsecondary institutions will introduce measures to prevent overdoses, which include distributing and implementing training standards for a medication that reverses the effects of opioids, after the on-campus death of a University of Victoria student sparked calls to action.
Lisa Beare, Minister of Post-Secondary Education and Future Skills, said she convened the province’s 25 public postsecondary institutions on Tuesday for discussion on student safety. The group agreed to roll out various measures on overdose prevention in time for the fall 2024 semester, she said in a statement.
That work will include distribution and training standards for naloxone, which is available as either an intramuscular injection or a nasal spray, and will be done in collaboration with the Ministry of Mental Health and Addictions and the BC Centre for Disease Control. Guidelines will be shared more broadly once established, she said.
Jennifer Whiteside, Minister of Mental Health and Addictions, said Tuesday her ministry is working to make intranasal naloxone more readily available and adding CPR training as a mandatory lesson in high schools.
The commitments follow one week after the parents of a UVic student, 18-year-old Sidney McIntyre-Starko, went public with an account of their daughter’s on-campus overdose, the “catastrophic failures” by both the university and a 911 operator, and their daughter’s subsequent death. They also issued a list demands to the province on overdose-prevention actions.
In the legislature last Thursday, Premier David Eby called the circumstances surrounding the death an “absolutely horrific situation.” He said he had a brief conversation with Ms. McIntyre-Starko’s mother and that the Solicitor-General would be directing a coroner’s inquest to get answers and prevent similar deaths.
Ms. McIntyre-Starko, a general science student, died in January after ingesting fentanyl and suffering a cardiac arrest in a dorm room.
On a website created to shed light on the circumstances surrounding her death, her parents provided a timeline that said campus security, trained in CPR and carrying intranasal naloxone, responded in about 3.5 minutes – enough time to save her – but failed to take action soon enough.
“They denied her the lifesaving care she needed until it was too late,” wrote Caroline McIntyre, an emergency physician of 25 years, in an open letter to Mr. Eby, Ms. Beare, provincial health officer Bonnie Henry and Health Minister Adrian Dix.
“They administered naloxone nine minutes after they arrived and started CPR almost 12 minutes after arrival. Sidney was an organ donor five days later.”
Another 18-year-old who collapsed alongside Ms. McIntyre-Starko and a third student who was impaired on fentanyl, survived, she wrote.
Dr. McIntyre added that the 911 dispatcher “waited more than 10 minutes when dealing with two unconscious 18-year-olds in a university dorm before asking if they could have taken drugs, and 12 minutes before recommending naloxone.”
In response, the university says its security officers “followed the protocols of their first aid training, starting with a scene assessment, triaging and then into emergency first aid, such as vital checks, administering naloxone and then CPR,” according to a statement provided by spokesperson Kirsten Lauvaas.
“They made every effort, within their areas of expertise and training, to save Sidney’s life. These efforts didn’t save Sidney’s life, but they did save the life of another student that night.”
The university is updating its prearrival and in-person orientation programming, along with its community living handbook, to include information on harm-reduction and safety supports, the statement says. It also welcomed Mr. Eby’s call for a coroner’s inquest, which it called an opportunity to improve how postsecondary institutions respond to the toxic drug crisis.
Jessica Maclean, director of campus security at UVic, said lessons learned from the incident will guide them as they continue working to build policies and processes to reduce the risk of further harm on campus.
The BC Federation of Students, which represents more than 170,000 postsecondary students in the province, is calling for naloxone to be made as accessible as fire extinguishers on campus – available and clearly visible anywhere students frequent.
“Imagine you’re walking through a campus building and you pass a fire extinguisher mounted to a wall: It’s a reliable device, ready to save lives in the event of a fire,” said Cole Reinbold, the student federation’s secretary-treasurer.
“Now picture naloxone, a life-saving medication for opioid overdoses being just as accessible right there, within arms reach. That is the vision.”
UVic did not respond to a specific question about whether it would expand on-campus access to the kits but said it would implement any recommendations from the coroner’s inquest.
Of the 2,551 people to die from toxic drugs in B.C. last year, 28 were youth (1.1 per cent) and 341 (13 per cent) were between the ages of 19 and 29.