MILWAUKEE — Milwaukee Public Schools is partnering with the George Moore IV Recovery Foundation to distribute 500 overdose resource kits to every school across the district.
The kits contain items such as Narcan, CPR masks, gloves, fentanyl test strips, Diposerx, instructions on how to administer the medication, and the addiction hotline number. Moore’s foundation provided the kits.
President of the foundation George Moore says that 22 children die every week of an opioid overdose at the youth level in the United States.
“There’s been over 640 overdose deaths for high school kids here in Wisconsin in the last seven years,” says Moore.
In Milwaukee County in 2023, Naloxone was administered by EMS personnel over 5,800 times.
MPS is joining major school districts across the country–including Los Angeles, New York, Philadelphia, Dallas, and Denver–in stocking the materials on school grounds.
“I ​think ​it ​could ​happen ​anywhere. ​Having ​them ​in ​schools ​is ​common ​sense,” says Volunteer and MPS teacher Katie ​Schumacher. “There’s ​​relief ​for ​a ​lot ​of ​people ​in ​knowing ​that ​these ​resources ​are ​going ​to ​be ​available ​and ​accessible ​to ​our ​students and ​the ​community ​overall.”
The district also says the materials will come with some additional training.
MPS has had zero student overdose deaths on school campuses in the past 10 years. Officials say the step is proactive and preventative.
