{"id":151986,"date":"2025-09-18T13:29:29","date_gmt":"2025-09-18T18:29:29","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.thelocalvoice.net\/oxford\/?p=151986"},"modified":"2025-09-18T13:29:31","modified_gmt":"2025-09-18T18:29:31","slug":"safeguard-mississippi-brings-lifesaving-opioid-training-to-26-schools","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.thelocalvoice.net\/oxford\/safeguard-mississippi-brings-lifesaving-opioid-training-to-26-schools\/","title":{"rendered":"SafeGuard\u00a0Mississippi\u00a0Brings\u00a0Lifesaving\u00a0Opioid\u00a0Training to 26\u00a0Schools"},"content":{"rendered":"\n

UM School of Pharmacy leads program highlighting overdose recognition, Narcan use<\/em><\/h2>\n\n\n\n

The University of Mississippi<\/strong>‘s\u00a0SafeGuard\u00a0Mississippi<\/strong> program has trained more than 460 public school staff members on how to respond to opioid overdoses, bringing vital knowledge and resources to 26 schools across north Mississippi<\/strong>.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The in-person training sessions began in July, focused on recognizing the signs of an opioid overdose and how to properly use\u00a0naloxone, or Narcan,\u00a0and fentanyl test strips.\u00a0Educators and staff from schools in Lafayette<\/strong>, Alcorn <\/strong>and Lee <\/strong>counties participated, including those in Oxford, Saltillo, Guntown<\/strong>, and Shannon<\/strong>.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

“The SafeGuard Mississippi training provided to the Alcorn School District was excellent,” said Brandon Quinn<\/strong>, the district’s superintendent. “This training opened the eyes of many of our educators and gave them the knowledge and tools to help keep our students safe.”<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Local community pharmacists played an active role in the sessions, serving as facilitators and resource experts. The work is continuing this fall in more school districts across the area.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Besides demonstrating naloxone administration techniques, pharmacists shared real-world experiences from the front lines of the opioid crisis and discussed how schools can collaborate with their communities to maintain access to overdose reversal medications. Their involvement ensured that participants received both clinical expertise and practical guidance for implementing opioid safety strategies in their own communities.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

During the July trainings, pharmacists distributed 720 boxes of Narcan and 350 fentanyl test strips. Also, some 484 participants earned certificates of completion, qualifying them to lead future trainings.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

“SafeGuard Mississippi is a powerful example of how education and community engagement can save lives,” said Donna Strum<\/strong>, dean of the UM\u00a0School of Pharmacy<\/strong><\/a>. “By equipping individuals with the tools and knowledge to respond to opioid overdoses, we’re strengthening the health and resilience of communities across our state.”<\/p>\n\n\n\n

SafeGuard Mississippi is focused on prevention and education in response to the opioid crisis affecting communities across the state. The program is funded through a federal grant from the Substance Abuse and Mental Health Services Administration<\/a> and managed by the Ole Miss pharmacy school.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

While the July trainings were primarily for school staff, teachers have requested that the training also be provided to students.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Trainings in additional counties took place in August and are continuing through September as SafeGuard Mississippi continues working toward its goal of reaching thousands of Mississippians with lifesaving tools and information.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

SafeGuard\u00a0Mississippi is a health education and outreach program that provides training and resources to prevent opioid overdoses. Led by the Ole Miss<\/strong> pharmacy school and supported by a $3.23 million SAMHSA grant, the program works with schools, pharmacists and community leaders to increase awareness and access to naloxone and fentanyl test strips in rural areas.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

By Sage McNamara<\/em><\/p>\n\n\n\n

\"\"<\/a><\/figure>\n\n\n\n
\"\"<\/a>
Ashley Henderson (left), assistant principal at West Union Attendance Center; Austin Crocker, pharmacist at Tyson Drug Co. in Holly Springs and a SafeGuard Mississippi trainer; and Troy Trout, principal at West Union Attendance Center, show off materials from a training session in August at the school. Photo by Lex Griffin<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n\n\n\n
\"\"<\/a>
Bob Lomenick (left), pharmacist at Tyson Drug Co. in Holly Springs and a SafeGuard Mississippi trainer, visits with Bo Sandlin, principal of East Union Attendance Center, following a SafeGuard training event in August at the school. Photo by Ivy Leong<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n\n\n\n
\"\"<\/a>
Paxton Pierce, third-year pharmacy student at the University of Mississippi, demonstrates the proper way to administer naloxone in the event of an opioid emergency at a SafeGuard Mississippi program for teachers in Union County. The program has reached more than 460 staff members at schools across north Mississippi. Photo by Sage McNamara\/School of Pharmacy<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

UM School of Pharmacy leads program highlighting overdose recognition, Narcan use The University of Mississippi‘s\u00a0SafeGuard\u00a0Mississippi program has trained<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":123462,"featured_media":151987,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"jetpack_post_was_ever_published":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_access":"","_jetpack_dont_email_post_to_subs":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_tier_id":0,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paywalled_content":false,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[17687],"tags":[16148,32634,17079,17101,26976,256,260,5,32633,7067,4,32632,14011,14909,1202,655],"class_list":["post-151986","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-university-of-mississippi","tag-alcorn-county","tag-brandon-quinn","tag-donna-strum","tag-fentanyl","tag-guntown","tag-lafayette-county","tag-lee-county","tag-mississippi","tag-narcan","tag-ole-miss","tag-oxford","tag-safeguard-mississippi","tag-saltillo","tag-school-of-pharmacy","tag-shannon","tag-university-of-mississippi"],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.thelocalvoice.net\/oxford\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/09\/SafeGuard-1.jpg?fit=2048%2C1365&ssl=1","jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.thelocalvoice.net\/oxford\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/151986","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.thelocalvoice.net\/oxford\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.thelocalvoice.net\/oxford\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.thelocalvoice.net\/oxford\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/123462"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.thelocalvoice.net\/oxford\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=151986"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/www.thelocalvoice.net\/oxford\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/151986\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":151990,"href":"https:\/\/www.thelocalvoice.net\/oxford\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/151986\/revisions\/151990"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.thelocalvoice.net\/oxford\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/151987"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.thelocalvoice.net\/oxford\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=151986"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.thelocalvoice.net\/oxford\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=151986"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.thelocalvoice.net\/oxford\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=151986"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}