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Student hospitalized following medical emergency related to drug overdose at JFK High School in Denver

DPS: Five students involved in isolated incident at school's parking lot
John F Kennedy High school in Denver_JFK High School
Posted at 9:55 AM, Dec 01, 2022
and last updated 2022-12-02 12:23:19-05

DENVER – First responders were called to John F. Kennedy High School early Thursday morning on reports that students might have overdosed, according to a Denver Public Schools spokesman.

The DPS Department of Safety, officers with the Denver Police Department as well as paramedics were responding to the high school located on Lamar Street near the intersection of W. Darmouth Ave. at around 9 a.m. on reports of a medical emergency “related to some sort of overdose of a drug,” said DPS spokesman Will Jones.

Scott Pribble, the director of external communications for DPS, told Denver7 that the medical emergency was an isolated incident involving five students who were in the parking lot of the school.

One of the students was taken to a local hospital for treatment and three others were released to their parents, Pribble said. The fifth student was treated at the scene, he added. No other students at the school were impacted.

The Denver Police Department was in the process of searching the vehicle for evidence, he said.

Back in October, Denver Public Schools began providing naloxone, a medicine that reverses opioid overdoses, and officials began training nurses in the district’s middle and high schools.

The Colorado Department of Public Health & Environment (CDPHE) told Denver7 as of October 1, DPS is one of 70 school districts requesting naloxone kits from the state'sNaloxone Bulk Purchase Fund. Of those 70 districts, CDPHE said 26 districts had received kits.

No one at the school administered naloxone, according to Pribble.