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Thoughts?[h1]The opioid epidemic is so bad that librarians are learning how to treat overdoses[/h1]
[h6]Libraries and a public health disaster[/h6]
Long viewed as guardians of safe spaces for children, library staff members like Kowalski have begun taking on the role of first responder in drug overdoses. In at least three major cities -- Philadelphia, Denver and San Francisco -- library employees now know, or are set to learn, how to use the drug naloxone, usually known by its brand name Narcan, to help reverse overdoses.
Their training tracks with the disastrous national rise in opioid use and an apparent uptick of overdoses in libraries, which often serve as daytime havens for homeless people and hubs of services in impoverished communities.
In the past two years, libraries in Denver, San Francisco, suburban Chicago and Reading, Pennsylvania have become the site of fatal overdoses.
"We have to figure out quickly the critical steps that people have to take so we can be partners in the solution of this problem," Julie Todaro, president of the American Library Association, told CNN.
[h6]A notice on the bathroom door informs patrons of rules to use the bathroom at McPherson Square Library.[/h6]
http://www.cnn.com/2017/06/23/health/opioid-overdose-library-narcan/index.html