Published November 7, 2023
MONROE, LA – The University of Louisiana Monroe College of Pharmacy is proud to announce that
the HERO program successfully trained over 600 first responders in its first year.
The ULM HERO program is funded by a $2 million, four-year grant from the US Department of Health and Human Services’ Substance Abuse and Mental
Health Services Administration, which was received in summer 2022. HERO stands for
Harm Reduction Education and Referral Opioid Overdose Reversal. The ULM HERO project
focuses on providing harm reduction education to first responders in the state of
Louisiana.
The HERO program is a free, 3-hour program with interactive and discussion-based activities.
Participants in the HERO program learn how to administer opioid reversal medications
like naloxone and how to refer people who use opioids to treatment and recovery centers.
Dr. Horace and her team’s next step with the program is to link traditional first
responders to treatment and recovery centers.
Heading this program is Dr. Alexis Horace, associate professor of clinical practice
for the College of Pharmacy in New Orleans, alongside Drs. Stephen Hill, Jameshia
Below, Stephanie Anderson and Oscar Garza.
After one year of the ULM HERO program, Dr. Horace and her team’s goal was to train
500 individuals in harm reduction education and they exceeded their goal with 688
individuals, including traditional first responders (336), non-traditional community
members (287) and first responders in training (65).
“We plan to host more community activities and provide education to community partners
across the state through our partnerships with student pharmacists and osteopathic
organizations,” Dr. Horace said. “We expect with the expansion of our service areas,
we’ll be able to spread our harm reduction education to rural, underserved communities.”
The HERO program served underrepresented communities in and around the New Orleans
metropolitan area including Jefferson, Orleans, Plaquemines, St. Bernard, St. Tammany,
St. Charles, and St. John the Baptist parishes, along with Ouachita Parish. Starting
this November, Dr. Horace and her team will spread their outreach to additional parishes
like Union, Morehouse, Richland, Caldwell, Jackson, Lincoln, Livingston, Ascension,
and LaFourche.
“We’d like to increase awareness about treatment/recovery centers services and increase
access for people living with a substance use disorder,” Dr. Horace said. “We fully
intend to ramp up our efforts to have a larger impact and ultimately help save lives.”
For year two of the HERO program, Dr. Horace and her team’s goal is to reach 750 individuals
and by 2026, provide education to 4,000 first responders. Along with this goal for
education expansion, they hope to increase the program’s collaborations with local
treatment and recovery centers by 80 percent.
None of the program’s accomplishments would be possible without Dr. Horace and her
team, program coordinators Mrs. Samaria Lowe and Mr. Aaron Brown, program analyst
Mrs. Winnie Atawodi-Alhassan, and partnerships with BlueCross BlueShield of Louisiana,
the National Association of Drug Diversion Investigators, the Louisiana Department
of Health, New Orleans Department Health, CrescentCare– New Orleans Syringe Access
Program and the Northeast Delta Human Services Authority.
“If you are a first responder or leader of a first responder organization, we are
eager to work with you!” Dr. Horace said. “I’m excited for the ULM HERO program and
our success this year. We’re motivated and ready to make positive changes for our
next year!”
For more information about the HERO Program, visit ulm.edu/hero.
CAPTION: Members of the HERO team including faculty and students pose at a training event.
