Just one day after International Overdose Awareness Day, Hendrix freshman Ivory Danuser revived an unconscious UCA student by giving him Narcan.

“I don’t know how I could see someone in harm and just leave them there,” Danuser said. “He has a life, he has a family.”

On Friday, Sept. 1, Danuser and a group of friends were driving down Bruce Street, headed to a party at the Pi Kappa Alpha house when they saw an unconscious man on the ground near Donaghey Hall.

Danuser and her friends stopped to help the man, who was later identified as a freshman UCA student. 

“He was completely alone. He didn’t have any shoes on. His shirt was torn. He had bruises on his hips and had blood in his nose and mouth,” Danuser said. 

At approximately 10:30 p.m., one of her friends called 911 while Danuser checked to see whether the man was breathing. 

She did not feel a pulse and administered the Narcan she put in her purse before going out.

About a minute after she administered the Narcan, the student gained consciousness and responded to questions from Danuser, UCAPD and the paramedics who arrived on the scene. 

Danuser said after the student woke up, he told her he had come from the Pike house and hadn’t knowingly taken any drugs, but he drank his own alcohol and a drink someone gave him at the party.

“Once he woke up, he told me he had drank a lot and I figured he took a pill since the Narcan worked, but he didn’t remember taking one,” Danuser said.

The student said, “I did not take any pills that night. I can’t even take Ibuprofen … I can’t swallow pills.”

Danuser said the student told her older students took him and two other freshmen to a room in the house to drink “jungle juice.”

The student told Danuser that the older students didn’t drink any of the substance and he drank most of it between the two other freshmen.

The student offered advice to anyone who might end up in a similar situation: “Always have a friend with you at a party.”

Danuser said she felt confident to provide help because she attended a medical camp at the University of California of Berkeley last summer and had some basic medical knowledge.

Danuser offered her own advice for students who plan to party, stressing the importance of being cautious about whom you trust with your drinks.

“That student obviously trusted his friends and they possibly could have killed him … If you’re drinking anything, always keep it with you,” she said.

The student was transported to Conway Regional Medical Center by Pafford EMS for treatment according to the report.

The report never confirmed whether the student suffered from an overdose; however, UCAPD officers noted the student appeared to be intoxicated, and could have taken drugs because the Narcan woke him up.

Stephanie Rose, addiction studies program director and assistant professor in the Department of Health Sciences, has extensive knowledge of Narcan and leads training on-campus and off-campus on how to use it. Rose said Narcan only works to reverse the effects of opioids.

“It can be given for any suspected overdose and is safe. If the person is overdosing on something else, it is safe to give, but that person will need medical treatment for alcohol poisoning,” she said.

Danuser said she was a bit shaken up after the incident, but stressed that being an aware and responsible partygoer is important to her.

“I didn’t know about Narcan but my grandfather had actually introduced me to it and was like ‘Hey, you’re about to go to college, why not carry it with you’,” she said.

Danuser, who is from Oklahoma, said she acquired Narcan for free from a website that sent it straight to her Oklahoma address.

In Arkansas, Narcan is available over-the-counter upon request without a prescription. Groups like the Central Arkansas Harm Reduction Project also offer Narcan and other free resources to help fight overdoses.

She and her friends did not attend the Pike party after helping the unconscious student but said it was still going on when they drove past it after the incident. 

“That was actually my first time I was going to a frat … I will definitely be more cautious,” she said. 

Danuser said the following day she went to the hospital to check on the student and help get some closure but he had been discharged, so she reached out through social media. 

“When we found him, he had his wallet and keys so I looked him up on Instagram, followed him and reached out to him the next day and was able to meet up with him and see that he was OK,” Danuser said. 

While overdoses haven’t been prominent in the past at UCA, this case was the second week in a row where a student was revived with Narcan. A week earlier, a UCAPD officer revived a student with two double-nasal doses of Narcan in Arkansas Hall.

Michael Hopper, UCAPD public information officer said officers on campus have not had to administer Narcan many times.

“Our officers have used Narcan in the field three times since we got it,” Hopper said. 

UCAPD first got Narcan in May 2019.

Hopper said since 2020, there have been six reported overdoses on campus — three of which an officer administered Narcan to the overdosing individual. 

Despite the small number of doses administered by UCAPD, Narcan can be used by anyone who is prepared and has it on their person, like Danuser, who decided last-minute to carry Narcan during her night out.

“I actually had the Narcan in my other purse, and on the way there I thought ‘Oh, I’ll just get it just in case,’” Danuser said.

Danuser and her friends were not the only people who had found the unconscious student. According to the report, the student was passed out on the ground for approximately 25-30 minutes before anyone found him, but it was Danuser who jumped into action to help the student. 

In May 2014, one block over from where the Sept. 1 incident occurred, sophomore UCA student Joshua Ashley-Pauley died from overdose despite being seconds away from the hospital because bystanders were afraid of calling 911 and facing prosecution themselves. 

A 2015 law passed in his name provides immunity to anyone attempting to help a person who is believed to be overdosing.

The law does not protect anyone who knowingly exposes a person to fentanyl, but it does protect bystanders who may also be under the influence or in possession of drugs from receiving any drug charges.