Katie Kline, Napa Opioid Safety Coalition
Katie Kline of the Napa Opioid Safety Coalition (NOSC) has been making strides in developing a community outreach approach that is both engaging and informative for youth and adults. Katie has created a “pill deck” that contains 10, circular, colorful pill-like cards to use in educational presentations and outreach events to shed a light on fentanyl, counterfeit pills, substance use, testing strips, Narcan, and the Good Samaritan Law.
The pill deck was based on the Drug Enforcement Agency’s lab results stating 4 out of 10 pills contain a lethal dose of fentanyl. (This number has now risen to 6 out of 10 pills and Katie is working on updating the deck.) On one side of the card is an image of a colorful pill, and on the flip side are facts and statistics about various topics that are meant to engage the reader and kickstart discussion. When doing outreach, the individual would “take a pill”, picking 1 of the 10 cards that are presented to them. Currently, 4 of the 10 pill cards contain information about a lethal dose of fentanyl being in their pill and them unintentionally overdosing. These cards highlight the terrifying characteristics of fentanyl and how hard it is to detect. One pill card states an individual witnessed an overdose and they had Narcan on hand and administered it, saving a life. Another two pill cards highlight the growing number of overdoses since the COVID pandemic’s start, expressing the probability of everyone knowing someone that has passed due to an overdose- intentionally or unintentionally. Other cards shed light on substance use; how to recognize the signs, how to say no if one is offered a substance, and the dangers of fake pills and experimenting. Through these cards we can have important conversations, dig a little deeper into local Narcan access and training opportunities, share tips for how parents can talk to their kids about substances, identify where youth can go to find harm reduction tools, teach the chocolate chip effect/fentanyl and share coalition resources for more education opportunities and local resources.
Katie finished her service in July 2023 and is now enrolled in an MBA program at Eastern University.
