New Tools for First Responders Confronting the Opioid Epidemic FIVE MINUTES TO HELP
ACADEMIC YEAR HIGHLIGHTS
Instructor Training Workshops 4 New Five Minutes to Help Instructors 65 Five Minutes to Help Trainings for First Responders 28 First Responders Completed Five Minutes to Help Training 544
As opioid overdoses continued to increase across New Jersey, in 2019 the NJ Office of Emergency Medical Services approached the Center to develop a unique training program for first responders to address the opioid epidemic. The program provides training to EMS who were likely to be involved with an opioid overdose reversal. The goal was to provide responders with new communication tools so they could engage differently with a person who was revived from an overdose with Narcan. The result was a training initiative called Five Minutes to Help, developed by Health Education Specialist, Philip McCabe; Consultant, John Krieger; and Program Manager, Colleen McKay Wharton. This initiative offers a 4-hour training for first responders and an 8-hour training to become an instructor. The Five Minutes to Help training focuses on concepts such as the stages of behavior change, using communication techniques of developing rapport and motivational interviewing, and reducing the stigma of substance use. By preparing a statewide team of instructors under this initiative, the same concepts could be taught to responders in local squads. This year, the program ran 4 Instructor trainings, producing a total of 65 new Instructors. These Instructors were provided the necessary tools and materials to deliver Five Minutes to Help local courses for first reponders, both remotely and in the classroom. Five Minutes to Help Instructors also taught a total of 28 classes consisting of 544 first responders. 1413 people (first responders & instructors) took the Five Minutes to Help training in total since it was created. New and innovative approaches are being explored to expand delivery of this training more broadly and reach even more individuals.
Left: Participants in the Five Minutes to Help November 2, 2022 training
28
Made with FlippingBook Annual report maker