Delta College is hosting six free NARCAN training sessions on campus in partnership with the Stockton-based Native Community Outreach Resource and Education (C.O.R.E).
The trainings, which began last semester, are hosted in partnership with the Health and Wellness Offices of Student Services.
Native C.O.R.E. is providing the Naloxone, fentanyl testing strips and instructors, while Delta College provides the location and promotion for the events.
Native C.O.R.E. is a nonprofit that covers San Joaquin, Stanislaus and Tuolumne counties.
The organization provides educational outreach for a variety of things from youth assistance, housing placement, and the NARCAN training. Native C.O.R.E is one of nine Narcan distribution centers in Stockton, through its Community Opioid Intervention Prevention Program awarded by the Indian Health Services.
This semester’s trainings started on Feb. 3 and teaches students how to recognize signs of overdose and administer NARCAN, a name brand nasal spray of Naloxone, a prescription medicine that blocks the effect of opioids and reverses an overdose.
To register for future NARCAN trainings, scan the QR code
It is a one day, 90-minute training event that provides lunch for its attendees.
“It is a great place to educate people on something they may not be familiar with entirely,” said C.O.R.E. administrative assistant Mathew Garcia.
The sessions are relevant given the impact of fentanyl in the community.
“Our youth are mostly affected by fentanyl,” says Louis Sandoval, an outreach assistant at C.O.R.E. “Over three quarters of overdoses among youth are by fentanyl.”
The first training of the semester was attended by students and professors on the second floor of Danner. Sandoval led the training with Garcia.
“I think it [NARCAN training] should be part of CPR training,” said Delta Chicano Ethic Studies professor Dr. Alberto Gutierrez. “Addiction has become such a big part of our lives; we can’t ignore it.”
The Naloxone Distribution Project (NDP) started in 2018 by the Department of Healthcare Services (DHCS) to combat the current fentanyl and opioid epidemic. It was expanded by Gov. Gavin Newsom in 2023, budgeting $79 million dollars to make the distribution of Naloxone more accessible to the public.
In 2024, there were 130 overdose deaths in San Joaquin County, according to the NDP data.
Any school, college, university, hospital or native center can apply to be a part of the NDP and receive NARCAN and fentanyl test strips to distribute for free.
Delta College has no current plans to become registered with the NDP to become a distribution center according to Vannessa Plaza, the student program specialist at Health and Wellness Office.
The next training day for this event is on Feb. 23.
Others will be held on March 3, 4, 23 and April 7, 27. The campus community is invited to attend.
If you or someone you know is struggling with an opioid addiction you can call 988 or online at 988california.org.
