Thursday, July 10, 2025
Senior students throughout the Bellmore-Merrick Central High School District became Narcan certified on June 4 after attending a training session conducted by representatives from the Nassau University Medical Center.
Emergency medicine physician Dr. Dawn Williamson and health services administrator Todd Haiken were both on hand to teach the students how to recognize an opioid overdose, how to administer Narcan to the patient, and how the medication reverses the effects of a drug overdose. The pair visited Mepham, Kennedy, and Calhoun high schools and the Meadowbrook Alternative Program throughout the day.
Williamson is an internist in Long Beach and also affiliated with Mount Sinai South Nassau Hospital. She has over three decades of experience in the medical field and regularly visits facilities throughout the Town of Hempstead to continue preaching the dangers of opioid use and how Narcan can save lives.
“You have to understand what to look for and [Narcan] is totally safe to use,” Williamson said. “People get nervous. They say, ‘What if it’s not really an overdose? What if it’s a heart attack, or a stroke, or something else?’ It doesn’t matter. There’s no downside. Just go ahead and use it.”
During her presentation, Williamson explained to the students the physical and behavioral signs of opioid abuse, what those drugs do to a body’s central nervous system, the causes of a drug overdose, the 911 Good Samaritan Law, how long withdrawals take, and how Narcan reverses the negative effects of an overdose.
More than 900 students received the training at Calhoun alone. The seminar is an extension of the physical education curriculum that gives seniors important information to carry over into college or their next life endeavor.
“Most importantly for us is that they have the training in the event that they’re ever faced with a potential overdose, where they can act quickly and not be afraid to act,” said Calhoun physical education, athletic, and health director Eric Caballero. “Dr. Williamson does a great job explaining that whether they’re under the influence or not, they are not going to get in trouble and they’re protected by the Good Samaritan Law. That’s really the premise of this.”
Williamson also relayed a story about an encounter her daughter had as a high school teacher in Westchester when five of her students became unresponsive in her classroom after taking gummies earlier in the day. The teacher called 911 and immediately summoned the school nurse, who administered Narcan to two of the students while paramedics gave it to the final three, saving them all.
After taking questions from the student audience, Williamson brought a volunteer up to the auditorium stage to help demonstrate how Narcan is dispensed to a person undergoing a drug overdose. At the conclusion of the training, each senior received a kit with two free Narcan samples and an ID card that shows they are trained to administer the medication.
“The one thing is that don’t be afraid to act, to step in to use it, there’s no downside,” Williamson said of her message to the students. “We’re giving out 1,000 doses. If we save one kid’s life, it’s worth it.”
